Liu Shao (Chinese: 劉劭; 426–453), courtesy name Xiuyuan (休遠), posthumously known as Yuanxiong (元凶, meaning "prime murderer"), was briefly an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. He was Emperor Wen's crown prince who, after hearing that his father was going to depose him, staged a coup d'état and assassinated his father, taking over the throne, but was then defeated and killed by his brother Liu Jun the Prince of Wuling, who took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.

Liu Shao's official birthdate was in 426, when his father Emperor Wen (Liu Yilong) was already the emperor of Liu Song. However, official histories state that that was not his actual birthdate—that he was born to his father and his mother Empress Yuan Qigui, Liu Yilong's wife, while Liu Yilong was still the Prince of Yidu under Liu Yilong's older brother Emperor Shao. The reason why the birthdate was falsified, the official accounts indicate, was because Liu Shao was conceived during the three-year period that Liu Yilong should have observed for his father Emperor Wu, during which he was supposed to abstain from sexual relations. Because Emperor Wu died in 422, this would make Liu Shao's actual birthdate sometime between 423 and 425. He was Emperor Wen's oldest son.

The official accounts also contain another story about Liu Shao's birth—that when he was born, Empress Yuan looked at him, and then stated, "this child's appearance is unusual, and he will surely destroy his state and his home; I will not raise him." She then wanted to put the child to death, but when Emperor Wen heard this, he ran to her bedchambers and saved the child. (Modern historian Bo Yang doubted this account and believed that this story was invented after Liu Shao's deeds.)

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