Abstract: Malinowski was a representative of the functional school of British cultural anthropology. His theories were introduced by the forerunner scholar Li Anzhai into Chinese contemporary anthropology. Mr Li's works covered various fields like sociology, semantics, aesthetics, folklore, religious study, ethnology. He used knowledge of these subjects to perceive, analyze and evaluate human cultural phenomena, forming a system of cultural anthropology.His translation and explication of theories of cultural anthropology, his criticism of Chinese traditional culture from the perspective of anthropology and his field research are all pioneering efforts to the spreading and development cultural anthropology in China. His theories and methods are still instructive and insightful for today's cultural anthropological study.