Li or Lee is a common Chinese surname, it is the 4th name listed in the famous Hundred Family Surnames. Li is one of the most common surnames in Asia, shared by 92.76 million people in China, and more than 100 million in Asia. It is the second-most common surname in China as of 2018, the second-most common surname in Hong Kong, the most common surname in Macau and the 5th most common surname in Taiwan, where it is usually romanized as "Lee". The surname is pronounced as in Cantonese, Lí (poj) in Taiwanese Hokkien, but is often spelled as "Lee" in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand and many overseas Chinese communities. In Macau, it is also spelled as "Lei". In Indonesia it is commonly spelled as "Lie". The common Korean surname, "Lee", and the Vietnamese surname, "Lý", are both derived from Li and written with the same Chinese character (李). The character also means "plum" or "plum tree".

Li Gao or Li Hao, courtesy name Xuansheng (玄盛), nickname Changsheng (長生), also known by his posthumous name as the Prince Wuzhao of Western Liang (西涼武昭王), was the founding duke of the Chinese Western Liang dynasty during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. While he claimed only the title of duke during his reign, he was posthumously honored with the princely title. He was initially a Northern Liang official, but in 400, he seceded from Northern Liang's prince Duan Ye's rule and established his own independent dynasty. While his state only lasted for 21 years, his descendants would remain key officials and nobles throughout the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasties, and one of them, Li Yuan, would found the Tang dynasty in 618. He was posthumously honored by the Tang dynasty as Emperor Xingsheng (興聖皇帝).