Li was born in Daqiao Town of Hengshan County, Hunan, on September 28, 1891.

His father, Li Yinqiu (Chinese: 李吟秋), was a local official.

In the autumn of 1912, he went to study in Japan again, where he was educated at the University of Tokyo, he earned his Bachelor of Engineering in 1919, by age 29.

On August 28, 1945, he attended the Chongqing negotiation and visited the Communist leader Mao Zedong.

Li died of heart disease in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 15, 1959.