Empress Dowager Longyu
Li requested permission from Empress Dowager Longyu to retire after the death of Empress Dowager Cixi in 1908. Longyu approved his request and allowed him to return home after 100 days had passed since Cixi's death. Li lived the rest of his remaining years in retirement and died in 1911 before the Xinhai Revolution broke out. He was buried in Enjizhuang () in present-day Haidian District, Beijing. Li was believed to have died from dysentery. However, when his grave was raided in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, the raiders discovered that it contained only his skull, and hence there were rumors that he was murdered (possibly decapitated). Li's grave was heavily damaged during the Cultural Revolution and only a fragment of his tombstone is left.