It is not known when Li Rizhi was born, but it is known that his family was from Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, roughly modern Zhengzhou, Henan).
His family traced its ancestry to the great Warring States period Zhao general Li Mu.
During Wu Zetian's Tianshou era (690-692), he served as a Sixing Cheng (司刑丞) -- a judge at the supreme court.
Later, during the Shenlong era (705-707) of Wu Zetian's son Emperor Zhongzong, Li Rizhi served as Jishizhong (給事中), an imperial attendant.
Emperor Zhongzong personally visited her mansion, and the officials attending to him all wrote poems praising the beauty of the pond.
Later that year, Li Rizhi was made acting Shizhong (侍中), the head of the examination bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor.
Once he retired to the countryside, he did not spend time managing assets, but rather built ponds and pavilions, and often invited younger scholars to discuss things with them.
On one occasion, a low-level official at the ministry of justice received an imperial edict but forgot to act on it for three days.
After his death, his youngest son Li Yiheng (李伊衡)[3] promoted a concubine to be his wife—an act considered highly violative of Confucian principles—and was wasteful and litigious toward his brothers, causing the reputation of the clan to suffer greatly.