A hands-on look at dancing

Liu says her research on the topic started in 2010, two years after she bid farewell to the stage as a dancer. She explains that researching classical Chinese dance allows her to "continue to dance in a different way".

In 2014, Liu published her first book, Dance With Hands, focusing on the hand gestures of Peking Opera-a traditional Chinese art form with a history of more than 200 years that UNESCO recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. It brings together such art forms as singing, dancing, martial arts and acrobatics. She's also devoted to dance therapy and offers dance training to children with special needs.

"This new book delves deeper into hand gestures, especially my research about the dancers portrayed in Dunhuang's murals and Buddhism's influence on classical Chinese dance, which reflect how hands and fingers were used in Chinese dances created thousands of years ago," Liu says.

She also studied with Zheng Xiaoyun, director and research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Religions.