算指 T'ung-wên suan-chih, in 11 (10) chüan, a work on arithmetic, printed in 1614. Both are included in the Hai-shan hsien-kuan ts'ung-shu (see under P'an Chên-ch'êng).
Although Li had known Ricci for almost ten years, it was only in 1610 that he was baptized by him under the name Leo (Leon). It is said that Ricci attended him in a serious illness, and that out of gratitude to his benefactor and admiration for the teachings of Christianity he requested baptism, and vowed to devote the rest of his life to the service of the Church. After Ricci's death he took charge of the funeral arrangements and petitioned the Emperor to grant a place of burial for the missionary and later for his companions, Didace de Pantoja 龐廸我 (T. 順陽, 1571–1618) and Sabbathin de Ursis 熊三拔 (T. 有綱, 1575–1620).
In 1611 Li Chih-tsao went back to his native city to observe the period of mourning for his father. He invited Nicolas Trigault (see under Wang Chêng), Lazare Cattaneo 郭居靜 (T. 仰鳳, 1560–1640) and Sebastian Fernandez 鍾鳴仁 (T. 念江, 1562–1622) to preach at Hangchow, and rented a house for a chapel and a residence for the missionaries. It was at this time that Yang T'ing-yün [q. v.], who had previously been a devout Buddhist, made the acquaintance of the missionaries and was baptized. Yang's conversion aroused the bitter animosity of Buddhists against the Church.
Meanwhile the Imperial Board of Astronomy had miscalculated an eclipse of the sun which occured on December 15, 1610, whereupon the astronomer, Chou Tzŭ-yü 周子愚, memorialized the throne that Pantoja and de Ursis, then residing at Peking, should be asked to translate the western calendar for the benefit of China. Hsü Kuang-chi and Li Chih-tsao were also recommended to assist them. These suggestions were approved and Li was recalled to Peking to assist in the work. But the project had not gone far when it was discontinued. About this time Li was appointed a sub-director of the Court of the Imperial Stud at Nanking. In 1613 Li presented his famous memorial in which he listed fourteen discoveries of Western science that had never been discussed in the writings of ancient Chinese worthies. At the same time he recommended that Pantoja, de Ursis, Longobardi (see under Chu Yu-lang), and Emmanuel Diaz 陽瑪諾 (T. 演西, 1574–1659) assist in carrying out the work that had been proposed three years previously. This recommendation, too, was ignored.
In 1616 the persecution of the Catholic Church in China began—the chief instigator being Shên Ch'üeh 沈㴶 (T. 銘縝, chin-shih of 1592), then vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies at Nanking. In this crisis Li Chih-tsao retired temporarily to Hangchow where he and Yang T'ing-yün provided among their relatives a refuge for the persecuted missionaries. In 1619 when Hsü Kuang-ch'i was ordered to drill newly appointed recruits at Tungchow, east of Peking, he asked Li Chih-tsao and Yang T'ing-yün who were still at Hangchow to contribute money in support of the troops who were defending China against the Manchus. In 1621 Shên-yang and Liao-yang fell to the Manchus and a new demand arose for more effective implements of warfare. In the meantime Li had been appointed sub-director of the Banqueting Court and concurrently head of the department of Waterways and Dikes in the Board of Works. In this capacity he memorialized, in the fifth moon of 1621, that a shipment of Western cannon which Hsü Kuang-ch'i had ordered through his subordinate, Chang Tao 張燾, from Macao, be quickly transmitted to the capital. Four cannon reached Peking, but two of them exploded, causing the death of a number of Chinese. Shên Ch'üeh seized upon this misfortune to renew (1622) his persecution of the Christians. Having been made Grand Secretary, Shên was able to press his case and force the missionaries again to seek refuge in Li's home at Hangchow.
Li once more went into retirement, living in his garden called Ts'un-yüan 存園 where he devoted himself to writing and translation. In 1623 he wrote a preface to the 職方外紀 Chih-fang wai-chi, 5 chüan, published in 1623, a geographical work begun by Pantoja and completed by Aleni (see under Ch'ü Shih-ssŭ) to accompany Ricci's map of the world. On May 21, 1625 Li wrote a short notice of the Nestorian Monument, 讀景教碑書後 Tu ching-chiao pei shu-hou, in which he identifies Nestorianism with the Christianity taught by Matteo Ricci. This article was included in a work by Emmanuel Diaz, entitled 唐景教碑頌正詮 T'ang ching-chiao pei-sung chêng ch'üan, printed in 1644. Li translated, in collaboration with Francis Furtado 傅汎濟 (T. 體齋, 1587–1653), a work on logic, 名理探 Ming li t'an, 10 chüan, printed in 1631; and Aristotle's De caelo et mundo, under the title 寰有詮 Huan yu ch'üan, 6 chüan, printed in
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