Born in Wuhan, Hubei Province in 1969, he earned his BA from the Department of Oil Painting at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now CAA) in 1991 and his MA from the Department of Oil Painting at CAA in 1995. In 2007, he received his PhD from the inaugural doctoral program of "Painting Creation Methodology" at CAA. Prof. Li served as Vice Dean of the School of Intermedia Art, CAA and currently teaches at the School of Painting.