In December 1989, he was transferred to work in the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party. By 1995, Li was named a professor at the party school. He taught literary history. During his tenure as a professor, he wrote essays and critiques on ancient and modern Chinese literature. Between 2001 and 2008, he served on the governing board of the school, serving as the director of the Literary History, Training, and Education Affairs departments. During this time, he served in two
guazhi positions, as the deputy party secretary of
Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei, and in 2004, as the deputy party secretary of
Xi'an. In December 2008, he was named vice president of the Central Party School, ascending to the vice-ministerial rank, and working directly under then-Central Party School president
Xi Jinping. In January 2014, he was named a member of the provincial Party Standing Committee of Fujian, and the head of party propaganda in the province. This was his first provincial tenure. His rise in politics had been compared to that of
Wang Huning, another political heavyweight whose career originated in academia. Li supports party leader Xi's philosophy that "the party must guide the arts." Director General
Daren Tang meets with Li Shulei (fourth, left), September 2024 Li is a member of the
18th and
19th CCP Central Commissions for Discipline Inspection. In 2020, he was appointed as the "vice president in charge of daily work" (ministerial level position) of the Central Party School (Chinese Academy of Governance). In April 2022, he became the executive deputy head of the
Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
Head of the Publicity Department After the
20th Party Congress in October 2022, Li became a member of the
CCP Politburo and was appointed as the
head of the Publicity Department. In November 2022, he attended the
World Internet Conference, where he said the "current global internet management system still follows imperfect rules and an unreasonable order". ==References==