[2] Hengli was founded in Suzhou as a weaving factory in 1994 by husband and wife Chen Jianhua and Fan Hongwei.

[3] One of the world's largest companies, Hengli was ranked 67th in the Fortune Global 500 for 2021, and 3rd on a list of China's top 500 Private Enterprises.

"[7][8] In 2020, environmentalists criticised the Hengli Group's plans to begin manufacturing plastics from coal.

[9] In 2021, the company was criticised for seeking only male candidates for positions as drivers in Guizhou.

[10] Three subsidiaries are publicly traded: Hongli has production bases in Suzhou, Dalian, Suqian, Nantong, Yingkou, Luzhou, Yulin, Huizhou and Guiyang.