Mr Li is the former deputy party boss of Sichuan province, and is charged with bribery and abuse of power.
He is among several men linked to Mr Zhou who have been arrested in an ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
Mr Zhou himself has been charged with bribery, and is so far the most senior official in China caught since the crackdown was launched in 2012.
Mr Li did not raise objections to any of the charges laid out in court on Thursday, according to the Xianning city court's statements on its Weibo account.
It gave no details on his alleged crimes.
The investigation into Mr Li's case began in 2012 - last year he was stripped of his post and party membership.
From 1998 onwards, Mr Li had overseen the development of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province which served as Mr Zhou's powerbase.
Mr Li quickly rose through the ranks under Mr Zhou, who was at that time the party boss for Sichuan.
China's President Xi Jinping launched a corruption crackdown in 2012, vowing to catch both "tigers" and "flies", in a reference to top and low-ranking officials.
It has investigated thousands of individuals in government and the private sector, including those who have fled the country. It caught 680 fugitives between July and December 2014 under its extradition programme Operation Fox Hunt.
On Wednesday, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection released a list of names of 100 fugitives sought under a new programme codenamed Sky Net, which was launched earlier this month. The names have been given to Interpol.
Nearly half of the people used to be heads of government departments, enterprises and public institutions. Others include former police officers and accountants, reported Xinhua.
The state news agency said that 40 of the people on the list had fled to the US, 26 to Canada, and the rest had travelled to other countries including New Zealand, Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
Li Chuncheng, an ally of China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang, has gone on trial for corruption, say officials.