Such a media atmosphere led to the exposure of several food and drug safety scandals in the past several years, including farms adding cancer-causing clenbuterol to pig feed to produce lean meat, restaurants serving food cooked with recycled oil known as "gutter oil," infant formula tainted with melamine, and chromium-contaminated capsules.

Moreover, the country's media are under profound changes brought by the rise of the Internet, which Liu depicted as "revolutionary."

Like 500 million other Chinese Internet users, Liu surfs the Internet every day to keep himself updated on the latest news and understand what heated topics the media and the public are discussing online.

"China should never reject any advanced things," Liu has said. "We support the free, orderly and secure flow of information on the Internet."

Trailblazing a path to make China a cultural power is a challenge facing Liu, who in 2010 set forth his thinking on self-consciousness, self-confidence and self-improvement of the Chinese culture, which was commented by some Internet users as a "strategic vision."

He took another bold step to plan the reform of the cultural system to boost China's soft power, a move some saw as difficult as that in the early stages of the reform and opening up in the 1980s.

The reform of the cultural system drove tens of thousands of public cultural institutions and millions of cultural workers to the market, but benefited more people, particularly those living in rural places.

Liu said repeatedly that the development of the cultural sector must be geared to the needs of the people, particularly the masses at the grassroots levels.

Over the past decade, a comprehensive system has been established in the country to provide flourishing cultural creation and production and entertainment to the public.

As a result, every village in China now has access to TV and radio programs, while an increasing number of bookstores have been opened in remote villages, and mobile cinemas been offered to villagers who rarely had chance to see movies.

Liu hardly takes holidays or vacations, as his schedule is always full of work arrangement.

Reading is his favorite hobby after work and he often writes essays in his spare time.

He is well connected with artists and celebrities from the press and the cultural sector.

Liu is married to Li Sufang, who has retired. They have two sons.