Nie Li (born September 1930) is a retired Lieutenant General of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the first woman to hold the rank.

[4] On her return, Nie was assigned as a technician to a lab in the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, researching missile technology.

[4] She worked on projects including the earliest Yuan Wang-class tracking ship, launched in 1977, as well as the first Chinese supercomputers, Yinhe models I and II, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Nie and another four women promoted at this time were the first female generals since Li Zhen's commission in 1955.

"[4] At the time, people were surprised that the daughter of a marshal had not married someone of equal or higher status.