Her father, Chen Erdong was the director of the department of theories at People's Daily, and her mother was an editor.

In 1979, Li joined the newly-founded Institute of Marxism–Leninism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where she researched marriage and family issues.

[3][2] In the 1990s, as part of her research on homosexuality, Li began to translate many important texts focused on queer theory.

[6] She was a keynote speaker at the 2006 International Conference on LGBT Human Rights in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Li also publicly speaks about other issues of social justice, such as the growing urban-rural divide in China.

[8] Li called on legislators to legalize pornography,[2][9] abolish the group licentiousness law[2][10] (which provides up to five years in prison for consenting adults who have sex with more than one other person), and decriminalize prostitution.

[1] Since 2002, Li has continued asking members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to submit her proposal.