Dr. Li was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang , China on October 7, 1928. After earning a BA from St. John's University, Shanghai, in 1949, he was awarded an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1950, and a PhD from the University of Illinois in 1953.
Joining the academia in 1955, he was promoted to Professor at the California State University, Fullerton, in 1963, and served as Chairman of the Faculty Council in 1964; later, he became Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, and at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was also a Ford Foundation Visiting Professor to the Chinese University of Hong Kong and to the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. At CUHK, he also served as Director of Lingnan Institute of Management and as Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Commerce.
Dr. Li is the author of 20 books, including professional works written while he was in the academia, as Director of Research of the EDP Auditing Foundation, as Associate Director of Cost Accounting Standards Board (a government agency), or as a staff member of the World Bank Group. After retirement, his books are on the transmission of Chinese culture to English-literate readers, including four volumes on Xiangqi (First syllabus, Syllabus on Cannon, on Elephant, and on Pawn), a volume on Mah-Jong, and three Chinese classics translated, annotated, and presented in bilingual format (The Analects of Confucius, The Art of War, and Dao De Jing). Another book, The Genealogy of Chess, based on 18 months of research at the Library of Congress, sets the record straight on the invention of proto-chess (the very first chess-like board game in history) -- it is a Chinese invention (not India), by Han Xin, an all-winning commander-in-chief, in 203 BC. This work earned him a "Book of the Year 1998" honor from the books-review editor of Games magazine.