A native of Chengdu, his works are celebrated for their local flavor and realistic portrayal of Sichuan during the late Qing period.

Born Li Jiaxiang (Chinese: 李家祥; pinyin: Lǐ Jiāxiáng) in Chengdu to a family of humble means, he did not begin formal schooling until the age of 16.

From 1919 to 1924 Li studied in France, first in Paris and then in Montpellier; he would later become the first to translate the works of French writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, and Gustave Flaubert into Chinese.

The third and longest volume in the trilogy, The Great Wave (Chinese: 大波), chronicles the events of the 1911 Revolution in Sichuan.

[9] The house he had built on the outskirts of Chengdu during the war with Japan in 1939 now serves as a memorial and museum dedicated to his life and work.