Yang Liu graduated from the School of Arts and Communication, Beijing Normal University in 2009 with a Ph.D. in Film Studies. From 2009 to 2011, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Liberal Arts, Nanjing University. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Drama, Film, and Television Arts at Nanjing University.

She visited the Film Department of Columbia University in the United States from September 2015 to September 2016.