Li, nicknamed "Li Da Yan" ("big-eyed Li"), began his career as a journalist and first rose to prominence for covering on corruption within China's professional soccer establishment. Li later coauthored a book on the subject,
Chinese Soccer: The Inside Story, which documented allegations of pervasive match-fixing involving coaches, players, referees and officials. The book asserted that nearly every professional Chinese soccer player had faced varying degrees of pressure or coercion by gambling syndicates to participate in fixing games. He says his coverage of the issue prompted persistent and anonymous threats against him and his family. He traveled to the
Sichuan earthquake region as a volunteer and wrote an essay: "The True Story of the Miracle Survival of the Students and Teachers of Longhan Elementary School in Beichuan". He also published a novel titled,
Li Kele Protests Demolitions in 2011, which took a critical look at forced demolitions in China. In 2011, Li announced he would be running as an independent candidate to serve in the
People's Congress of Wuhou district, Chengdu. A number of prominent cultural figures, writers, and academics endorsed Li's candidacy including blogger
Han Han, film director
Feng Xiaogang, and legal scholar
Yu Jianrong and
He Weifang. ==See also==