[1][2] Li was born in Tai County, Jiangsu, on 31 December 1939, while his ancestral home in Dantu District of Zhenjiang.

[3] His younger brother Li Deyi [zh] is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

[3][4][5] His younger cousin brother Li Dequn is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

[6] 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.

[6] After resuming the college entrance examination 1978, Li did his postgraduate work at Wuhan Institute of Surveying and Mapping.