Part of Ma Junren's training group, all of Ma Liyan's career highlights occurred entirely in 1993. Her first outing was in the marathon for the 1993 National Games of China, where she placed sixth in a race dominated by her training group. Having finished in 2:25:46 hours, she was ranked the seventh fastest athlete in the world that year, but was only sixth in the race itself, won by Wang Junxia almost two minutes quicker. She was China's sole entrant in the marathon at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics, but failed to finish the distance on her international debut.