费孝通
After graduating from Shanxi University, Li worked as an editor at Guangming Daily. One year later, in 1978, Li was assigned a research position at the State Council Research Office, where she gained national fame by publishing the article "To substantially promote democracy, to substantially promote the rule of law" with Lin Chunhe. 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. After obtaining a doctorate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and returning to China, Li worked as a post-doctoral fellow under the acclaimed sociologist Fei Xiaotong, then as an instructor at Peking University. In 1992, she joined the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as a researcher, and later became director of the Research Office of Family and Sexuality. She worked there until her retirement in 2012.