Professor Li’s research focuses on the archaeology of Bronze Age China; craft specialization and production, with a specialization on bronze casting technology; and the rise of social complexity, regional interaction, and state formation in ancient China. His current work encompasses the study of state-sponsored bronze production at Houma of the Eastern Zhou period, as well as the research and writing of “Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5, Part 14: Non-Ferrous Metallurgy,” for the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, England.