Fan Hongwei moved from accounting into textile entrepreneurship with her husband Chen Jianhua, then helped build Hengli from a small textile operation into an integrated petrochemical and materials group while retaining control of its listed arm. [1][2][3]
She entered business through operating work rather than inheritance
Forbes says Fan worked as an accountant before establishing a textile and silk trading business with Chen Jianhua, so the wealth-producing enterprise began with their own commercial activity rather than a family company passed down to her. [1]
The couple later acquired a state-owned chemical-fiber factory and expanded from textiles into chemical fibers and petrochemicals, creating the industrial base that became Hengli Group. [1][3]
Hengli's corporate history dates the group's establishment to 1994 and describes its later expansion across refining, petrochemicals, polyester materials, chemical fibers and textiles. [3]
Founder control remained tied to a much larger integrated platform
Hengli Petrochemical's annual report identifies Fan as chairman and names Fan and Chen together as the listed company's actual controllers, with their controlled interests representing a large majority of the company's shares. [2]
Her fortune therefore reflects retained founder ownership in an operating group she helped build from textile trading and manufacturing into a far larger petrochemical platform. The reviewed evidence supports a primarily self-created fortune without a material inherited starting base. [1][2][3]
Sources for background
Sources reviewed Oct 5, 2026.
- Fan Hongwei · Forbes · Mar 10, 2026
- 2024 Annual Report · Hengli Petrochemical · May 19, 2025
- HENGLI GROUP Introduction · Hengli Group · Jul 29, 2026
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