Li Jianbin started his football career playing for Qingdao Beilaite's youth academy in 2001 and showed great athleticism that would attract the interests of second tier side Shanghai Stars in 2006. He would not break into the first team and decided to move to fellow second tier side Qingdao Hailifeng where he once again spent most of his time playing for their youth academy.
Li joined second tier side Chengdu Blades in May 2007 and would soon be sent to play for the club's satellite team Hong Kong First Division League side Sheffield United where he played five games and scored one goal. On his return from his loan period, Chengdu had become a top tier side and Li would go on to make his debut for the club on 5 July 2009 in a league game against Shandong Luneng which ended in a 2-1 win. Then manager Wang Baoshan would show a lot of faith in the young player and allowed him to feature within nine more league games at the end of the season. The next season saw the club relegated to the second tier when it was discovered that the club match-fixed several games in 2007 when they were promoted. Li would decide to remain faithful towards the club and decided to concentrate in establishing himself as a vital member within the team. He achieved this by playing in twenty-two league games and helped guide the club to second place within the league as well as immediate promotion back to the Chinese Super League.
Li transferred to Guangzhou Evergrande on 26 December 2011 along with Zhao Xuri, Rong Hao, and Peng Xinli. He made his debut for the club on 11 May2012 in a 3-1 away defeat against Dalian Shide. Li failed to establish himself within the first team and played mostly in the reserve team league for the club. He made just one league appearance for Guangzhou in the 2012 league season. On 20 November 2012, Li was loaned to Shanghai Shenhua for the 2013 league season as part of an agreement for Feng Renliang's transfer to Guangzhou Evergrande with an option to buy at the end of the season. He returned to Guangzhou Evergrande in the beginning of 2014 season and played as a starter in the 2014 Chinese FA Super Cup. However, after Guangzhou losing the match, he had a conflict with fans in the social networks and was sent to the reserve team. On 25 June 2014, Li was loaned to promoted side Henan Jianye for the rest of the 2014 season. He made his debut for the club on 20 July 2014 in a 2-1 win against Beijing Guoan.
Shanghai Shenhua
On 4 December 2014, Li joined fellow Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua on a permanent transfer after failing to cement a starting role at Guangzhou Evergrande. On 8 March 2015, he made his debut for the club in a 6-2 win against Shanghai Shenxin. He scored his first goal for Shanghai on 3 July 2016, in a 3-0 victory against Changchun Yatai.
Dalian Yifang
On 13 February 2019, Li transferred to Dalian Yifang.
International career
Li was called up to the Chinese under-23 national team to take part in the 2010 Asian Games where he would play in three games and score one goal in a tournament in which China were knocked out in the last sixteen. Several months later after an impressive league season where Li established himself and won promotion with Chengdu Blades, he would soon be called up to the Chinese national team preliminary squad in preparation for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Despite having no previous senior international experience and having played for a second tier side, Li was unexpectedly included into the squad after teammate Feng Xiaoting was injured and would go on to make his unofficial international debut against Iraq on 2 January 2011 which China won 3-2.
