The invention belongs to the technical field of sensors, and particularly relates to a dual mode micro liquid flowmeter based on light manipulation. The micro liquid flowmeter comprises a microfluidic chip, optical fibers, a microsphere, a pump laser, a microscope and a computer platform and its supporting software. Microfluidic chip built-in micro channel serves as a liquid circulation channel; optical fibers are inserted into a microfluidic channel to be coaxial with the microfluidic channel, wherein the end face directly face the fluid direction; the rays outputted from pump laser are outputted through optical fibers to control the microsphere; the microscope is used for microscope observation, the computer platform and its supporting software are used to receive CCD image signals, indentify the microsphere position in real time, and then set the corresponding thresholds according to different measurement modes. The micro liquid flowmeter is high in measuring sensitivity, large in dynamic range, high in the degree of automation and good in real-time performance and having high engineering application value.