Li was born in
Tai County,
Jiangsu, on 31 December 1939, while his
ancestral home in
Dantu District of
Zhenjiang. His younger brother is an academician of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering. His younger cousin brother
Li Dequn is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 1957, he entered the Department of Aeronautical Surveying, Wuhan Institute of Surveying and Mapping (now
Wuhan University). After graduation in 1963, Li was dispatched to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping and reassigned to the Shijiazhuang Cement Products Factory in January 1971. In October 1975, he became an engineer at Hebei Provincial Bureau of Surveying and Mapping. After resuming the college entrance examination 1978, Li did his postgraduate work at Wuhan Institute of Surveying and Mapping. He pursued further studies in
Federal Germany, first studying at the
University of Bonn in 1982 and then earning a doctor's degree from the
University of Stuttgart under the supervision of Friedrich (Fritz) Ackermann in 1985. Li returned to China in 1985 and continued to teach at Wuhan Institute of Surveying and Mapping. He was promoted to full professor in October 1986. He moved up the ranks to become president in February 1997, a position in which he remained until July 2000. He was recruited as dean of the School of Environment and Spatial informatics,
China University of Mining and Technology in February 2012 and professor of the School of Engineering,
Peking University in April 2013, respectively. == Family ==