Abstract: One of the pioneers of Chinese cultural anthropology is Li Anzhai, a leading scholar of the western school. He has played an important role in the process of introducing western cultural anthropology into China. He has exactly understood and grasped the object and property of cultural anthropology, thus advocating cultural functionalism and cultural relativism. He has made an important contribution to the early construction of cultural anthropology through field research, comparative study and applied anthropology in China. His theory and method of cultural anthropology are still worth learning and inheriting.