Niu first received attention in world snooker when he entered APTC Event 2 in 2012, reaching the last 16 and defeating established professionals Mark King (4–0) and future World Champion Stuart Bingham (4–3).[2] He reached the same stage at the 2015 Xuzhou Open where he was defeated by Alfie Burden. His most notable result was defeating Matthew Selt 4–1 in the last 64.[3]
He achieved a two-year world snooker tour card in May 2017 due to his performances on the Chinese professional tour.[4]