His father and older brother were both well-known Peking opera actors on the mainland before the war, and the younger Li was practicing acting movements by the age of eight and performing on stage at nine.
九歲，父親請來畢庭森、張富芬教基本功，張雙鳳練把子（兵器），他便和七、八個年紀較長的孩子一塊兒坐科。