Xue pumped his fist in the air after the verdict was announced, saying repeatedly in Mandarin "disagree, disagree".
He protested "I am innocent," as he was taken away to the cells.
The crown had alleged in the High Court at Auckland that Xue, 55, strangled Ms Liu with a neck tie and fled to Australia with his three-year-old daughter Qian Xun two days later, and then abandoned her at a Melbourne railway station on September 15 before flying to the United States.
The defence said Xue, who did not give evidence, didn't know his wife was dead when he abandoned his daughter in Melbourne.
It said it was possible she died as a result of a sexual asphyxiation practice gone wrong involving one or two other men, who then put her in the boot of Mr Xue's car with her clothes and drove back to her house.
