His original family home was located in Wuxiang County, Shanxi, and Ling grew up in Beijing.
He worked in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia for 7 years as a sent-down youth after graduation from high school.
He came back to Beijing in 1975, and was enrolled into the Institute of Archaeology (IA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the institute later became part of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, CASS), working on the research of inscriptions on bronze under the supervision of Zhang Zhengliang.
He joined the Bangxi Branch of Archaeological Team of IA CASS between 1982 and 1983.
Li Ling's research and teaching concentrate on bamboo and silk manuscripts, The Art of War, Fangshu, Zuo zhuan, and the history of ancient China.