This article starts by examining how “Li ji” was used as a title in early China. In addition to the Li, Li jing, Shi li, Li yi and Yi li, etc., “Li ji” was used as an alternative title for the Li canon, and the “Li” as a title was used to indicate what we now refer to as the Li ji or the Xiao Dai Li ji as well. By discussing how the Guodian bamboo slip texts are related to the transmitted version of the Li ji, this article argues that the writing styles of the related excavated bamboo manuscripts are the particular Li gujing- or Li guji-styles, that the “Li gujing” or “Li guji” is more a description of those ancient retrieved texts than an actual title, and that many of the Guodian bamboo-slip texts are the Li guji- or Li gujing-style writings. According to the Li guji-style Zi yi text, it is evident that the material in the Li ji comes from creditable pre-Qin textual sources. Although the Li ji text came to its current shape as a result of later editing work, it does not mean that the received Li ji sections have higher textual value than the excavated manuscripts do. On the contrary, the excavated manuscripts could have many valuable early textual sources that the transmitted Li ji has lost.