Chen Li (1810–1882) was a Cantonese scholar of the evidential research school, known for his contributions to historical Chinese phonology.
Chen Li's family originally came from Shaoxing prefecture in Zhejiang province, moving to Nanjing in the early Ming dynasty.
Chen was able to enumerate the initials and finals of the phonological system of these dictionaries, now known as Middle Chinese, and demonstrate subtle differences from those of the later rhyme tables.
[3] This analysis would be repeated, though less thoroughly, in the 20th century by the Swedish linguist Bernhard Karlgren, who was unaware of Chen's work at the time.
[4] Chen's collected essays (東塾集 Dōngshú jí), published in 1892 after his death, include a much-quoted early description of the phonology of Cantonese in comparison with the categories of Middle Chinese.