He served as the governor of Henan between 2003 and 2008, and president of All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives between 2008 and 2011.
Li Chengyu was born in Haiyuan County, Ningxia in 1946.
[citation needed] In 1992, he was transferred to Henan to serve as Vice Governor of that province.
In January 2003 Li was named Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary of Henan.
He went on to sit on the National People's Congress Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee until 2013.