Early life Liao Lisheng was born in
Longgang, Shenzhen to a
Teochew family that originated from
Jiexi. He started his football career when he received organized football training at age nine at the Guangxi Hercules Football School. He later trained with Zhaoqing Sunray Cave Football School, Gu Guangming Football School, and
Shenzhen Kingway's youth academy between 2005 and 2008 and eventually joined
Dongguan Nancheng's youth academy in 2008. Liao scored three goals in 19 appearances in the group stage as Dongguan finished the fourth place in the south group and entered the playoff stage. Liao played in all five matches in the playoffs; however, Dongguan lost to
Chongqing FC 3-0 on aggregate in the semifinals which meant they failed to be promoted to
China League One directly, and then lost to
Fujian Smart Hero 2-0 in the third place playoff and failed to enter the relegation playoffs. Liao was then promoted to captain during the 2012 season. Although Dongguan was deemed as one of the hottest clubs for promotion in this season, they were knocked out by just finished the sixth place in the group stage. Liao played 23 league matches and scored four goals in the 2012 season. Liao scored the winning goal on 2 June 2012 in a 1-0 win against
Tianjin Songjiang in the second round of the
2012 Chinese FA Cup, meaning Dongguan became the first third-tier club to reach the third round of FA Cup. They finally ended their FA Cup journey in the third round on 27 June 2012 in a 4-0 loss against
Shandong Luneng.
Guangzhou Evergrande After
Dongguan Nancheng failed to be promoted to the second tier, Liao transferred to
Chinese Super League giant
Guangzhou Evergrande along with his teammates
Fang Jingqi,
Yang Chaosheng, Li Weixin,
Hu Weiwei, Zhang Xingbo and Wang Rui in November 2012. He made his debut for the club on 30 October 2013 in a 1-1 draw against
Shanghai East Asia. On 26 February 2014, he was substituted on for
Muriqui at half time when Guangzhou was losing 2-0 against
Melbourne Victory in the first match of
2014 AFC Champions League. He provided a crucial assist to
Elkeson who scored and put Guangzhou 3-2 ahead, eventually winning the match 4-2. On 18 March 2014, he scored his first goal for the club in the third group match of 2014 AFC Champions League which ensured a 3-1 win against
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. He played 28 matches for the club across all competitions in the 2014 season and was named as a candidate for
Chinese Football Association Young Player of the Year award; however, he lost out to
Liu Binbin who instead picked up the honour. On 18 March 2015, Liao suffered a fifth metatarsal bone fracture in a
2015 AFC Champions League match against
Kashima Antlers and received surgery in Italy later that month. He recovered from injury by August 2015 but didn't play for Guangzhou for the rest of the 2015 season. He made his return on 24 April 2016, 403 days after his injury, in a 4-0 away win against
Tianjin Teda, coming on as a substitute for
Alan Carvalho in the 85th minute. He scored his first goal in the Super League on 30 October 2016 in a 4-0 home victory against
Shandong Luneng. In December 2016, Liao extended his contract with Guangzhou until the end of the 2021 season. On 22 February 2017, Liao scored twice in Guangzhou's season opener, a 7-0 home win against
Eastern in the
2017 AFC Champions League. On 2 May 2017, he scored the opening goal and assisted
Gao Lin in a 2-1 win against
Meixian Techand in the third round of the
2017 Chinese FA Cup. On 7 February 2019, Liao was loaned to fellow top tier club
Tianjin Tianhai for the 2019 season.
Shandong Taishan On 22 March 2022, Liao joined fellow top tier Chinese football club
Shandong Taishan for the start of the
2022 Chinese Super League campaign. He made his debut for the club on 3 June 2022 in a league game against
Zhejiang FC that ended in a 1-0 victory. This would be followed by his first goal for the club, which was scored in a league game on 10 July 2022 against
Dalian Pro in a 3-1 victory. He would establish himself as a regular member of the team's midfield that went on to the win the
2022 Chinese FA Cup with them.
Chengdu Rongcheng On 18 February 2025, Liao joined
Chinese Super League club
Chengdu Rongcheng.
Shenzhen Peng City On 16 July 2025, Liao was loaned out to another
Chinese Super League club from his hometown
Shenzhen Peng City. ==International career==