 His magnum opus, T'ien-fang hsing-li or 'Nature and Principle in the Direction of Heaven', was considered the authoritative exposition of Islamic beliefs and has been republished twenty-five times between 1760 and 1939, and is constantly referred to by Muslims writing in Chinese.In his childhood, he received instruction from his father, Liu Sanjie ().At the age of 12, he studied scriptures with Yuan Ruqi () at the Garden of Military Studies Mosque in Nanjing, (which no longer exists).