Zheng-Xiang Li is a world-renowned geoscientist whose work transcends disciplinary boundaries and has led to paradigm shifts in our understanding of how the Earth's engine works. This is important because it catalyses the formation of deep Earth resources as well as climate and environmental changes. He played prominent roles in the discovery of the periodical occurrences of two pre-Pangea global supercontinents, Rodinia and Nuna, pushing our knowledge of global palaeogeography back to 2,000 million years. He also co-developed the dynamic supercontinent-superplume geodynamic model, addressing the driving forces of plate tectonics, and he also constructed innovative tectonic models for Australia and the West Pacific.