Li Zhaoxing
Chinese diplomat and politician
Li Zhaoxing (Chinese: 李肇星; pinyin: Lǐ Zhàoxīng; born 20 October 1940) is a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of China from 2003 to 2007. He previously served as Ambassador of China to the United States from 1998 to 2001, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations from 1993 to 1995, and deputy director and director of information department at Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1993.
Early life
Li was born in Jiaonan County in Qingdao, Shandong. He studied at the Department of Western Languages at Peking University and after graduation in 1964, he was selected to study at Beijing Foreign Studies University. After graduation, he entered the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. Following the start of Cultural Revolution, he was forced to drop out of the institute and work in cadre schools and farms in Shanxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hebei and Guangdong Provinces. During his time in Guangdong, he experienced Typhoon Viola in 1969.
Early career (1970–2001)
After being reinstated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in 1970, he was assigned as a staff and attaché with the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. In 1977, he was appointed staff member and deputy director of the Information Department within the ministry, serving until 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he served as a first secretary at the Embassy of China in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Li Zhaoxing” is chinese diplomat and politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zhaoxing, Chinese and diplomat, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “chinese diplomat and politician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q463697. VIAF identifies the subject as 61873491. The Library of Congress control number is nr2004004615. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 2003, 2007 and 1998.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Li Zhaoxing”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Li Zhaoxing primary sources, Li Zhaoxing archive and Zhaoxing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Li Zhaoxing”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Li Zhaoxing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.