Li Dazhao was not only a pioneer of the Chinese communist movement and the leader of the Communist Party of China, but also a well-known Marxist thinker and educator. In his short but brilliant life, he actively explored the modernization of China’s education. Li Dazhao’s ideas of popularizing education, establishing a new outlook on life, eliminating ignorance with science, attaching equal importance to play and education, and combining education with production and labor constitute the main contents of Li Dazhao’s thinking on educational modernization. Studying Li Dazhao’s thoughts on educational modernization in the new historical period will not only enable us to understand Li Dazhao’s ardent feelings and ideological path for saving the country and the people, but will also provide reference and thinking for the development of China’s educational modernization.