From 2002 to 2007, Li served as the Chinese Communist Party Secretary of Jiangsu, the top leader of an area of significant economic development.

Li Yuanchao played an important role in the reform and opening up under Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.

After the resumption of the National College Entrance Examination Li was admitted to pursue a master's degree from Fudan University in mathematics.

In 1981, after graduating, he stayed at Fudan to teach as a lecturer and held a leadership position in the Communist Youth League organization of the university.

[citation needed] In March 2019, Agence France-Presse reported that 20 paragraphs of his doctoral dissertation Some Issues Concerning the Production of Socialist Culture and Art had been plagiarised from a thesis written by Zhang Mingeng.

In October 2001, a mere month after he took office, Li garnered attention by firing several municipal officials accused of sexually harassing female hotel employees.

[7] At the 16th Party Congress held in 2002, Li failed to secure a seat to the Central Committee and was elected only an alternate member.

During his tenure in Jiangsu, Li assessed local officials in terms of performance measured by social and environmental factors, as opposed to purely economic ones.

[9] In response to the corruption case of Xu Guojian, the head of the provincial Organization Department, Li said, "Jiangsu is beginning the biggest anti-corruption drive since the founding of the People's Republic.

[11] During the 2012 National Congress of the CCP, Li was considered a contender for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee but was blocked by former general secretary Jiang Zemin, in what was seen as a major defeat for Hu Jintao.