2026/09/17 Back
On November 22, the renowned Chinese silk brand Wensli celebrated its 50th "birthday" at the Zhejiang Provincial Great Hall of the People.
Wensli started as a small township silk factory with only 22 employees and has now grown into a modern enterprise group with silk textiles and cultural creativity as its core businesses, supplemented by multiple industries including biotechnology, asset management, and financial management. Wensli has become an outstanding representative of Chinese silk, has ranked among China's Top 500 Private Enterprises for 19 consecutive years, and is advancing from a well-known Chinese brand toward an internationally renowned brand.
Fifty years of achievements have been distilled into a series of figures: the group's various industrial segments have accumulated total sales exceeding 200 billion yuan, generated profits and taxes exceeding 8 billion yuan, provided nearly 50,000 jobs for society, and made cumulative charitable donations exceeding 100 million yuan. This report card is the fruitful result of Wensli's adherence to "long-termism" and a vivid testament to the unremitting efforts of generations of Wensli people over half a century.
At the event, Tu Hongyan, Chairman of the Wensli Group, said excitedly that the company aims to build a century-old enterprise and forge a century-old brand. "We will be disseminators of Chinese silk culture, innovators of Chinese silk technology, and leaders of Chinese silk brands."
50 Years of Striving: The "Four Thousand Spirit" Runs Throughout
In 1975, Shen Aiqin, then 30 years old, led 22 farmers who had "washed their feet and come ashore" to establish Wensli's predecessor—Jianqiao Silk Factory—in several dilapidated single-story houses, using 17 iron-wood looms discarded by state-owned enterprises.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, the first generation of Wensli people upheld the "Four Thousand" spirit, carrying products on their backs as they traveled far and wide. Despite difficulties such as a lack of capital, technology, and raw materials at the beginning, they overcame one obstacle after another. In 1999, Wensli was recognized as a China Well-Known Trademark.
As the AI video "A Splendid Life—Tribute to Founder Shen Aiqin" was played, the founder's life was vividly presented before the audience, and her kind and resilient entrepreneurial spirit moved everyone. Tu Hongyan at one point choked up on stage: "What my mother left us is not just a company, but a spirit. Her 'Six Never Forgets in Life' has taken deep root in the hearts of all Wensli people and become part of our cultural DNA."
Tu Hongyan said that these 50 years have been a path of innovation that resonates with the times, walks alongside partners, and grows together with employees. At the ceremony, Wensli specially presented the "50 Years, 50 People" series of awards to veteran employees and key personnel who made important contributions to the company's development. As one veteran employee after another walked onto the stage to receive the weighty "Golden Silkworm Award" and "Silk Road Unity Award," rounds of applause erupted from the audience.
Old Maps Cannot Find a New World: Four Major Future Layouts
This was a grand gathering full of warmth and a sense of technology. Li Jianhua, Chairman of Wensli Silk, opened with a speech titled "Breaking Out of the Cocoon" using holographic projection and digital human technology, likening Wensli to "a cultivator on the Silk Road" and comparing the company's growth to Xuanzang's journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures, with the aim of "constant self-renewal."
"Wensli's fifty years have been a commercial path, but what it has cultivated is faith and original aspiration." From the "rebirth" through restructuring in 2000, to the 2008 Beijing Olympics promoting its transformation from traditional manufacturing to cultural creation; from the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit giving rise to the new "silk + X" model, to its 2021 A-share listing making it "China's first listed silk cultural and creative company," Wensli has always been exploring new paths of innovative development.
"Old maps cannot find a new world! We must closely revolve around silkworms, mulberry, silk, and satin, and jump out of silk to do silk!" Li Jianhua proudly announced that Wensli Silk would lay out four hundred-billion-yuan industrial sectors: the classic silk industry, textile printing and dyeing all-in-one machines, the silk big health industry, and the Wensli AI intelligent agent.
Classic silk industry: bringing silk into daily life and further expanding new scenarios such as real silk calligraphy and painting, real silk home decoration, and cultural tourism and creative products.
Textile printing and dyeing all-in-one machine: promoting a green revolution with self-developed waterless printing and dyeing all-in-one machines, aiming to enable 300 billion meters of global textile printing and dyeing fabrics to achieve zero pollution and zero emissions, and to become a leader in green printing and dyeing.
Silk big health industry: jointly with top scientific research institutions, launching the "Golden Silkworm No. 1 · Yishen" series of products to bring hope to patients with Alzheimer's disease, ALS, and other conditions, and to become a pioneer in the big health field.
Wensli AI intelligent agent: through a "hyper-converged intelligence" architecture, integrating more than 20 industrial-grade AI tools to achieve full-chain intelligence from voice ordering to design, material selection, production scheduling, and delivery. Rapid delivery of a silk scarf in 5 minutes has become a reality.
Facing the wave of the AI era, Tu Hongyan said that Wensli will drive future development with a dual-wheel strategy of "talent development" and "brand strategy." In the next ten years, Wensli's brand strategy will focus on a "trinity" deployment: deepening its presence domestically to consolidate its foundation; expanding overseas to increase its voice; and strengthening culture to shape its image. She firmly believes that by adhering to the concept of "brand is king," and by deepening products, enriching culture, and expanding markets, Wensli will surely forge a path toward a century-old brand and let Chinese silk shine on the world stage.
Wensli's Third-Generation Training Plan Is Already on the Agenda
Mentioning Wensli always brings to mind the inheritance wisdom of founder Shen Aiqin, which has made Wensli one of the most successful representatives of the succession from the first generation to the second generation of Zhejiang entrepreneurs. After Tu Hongyan graduated from university, her mother sent her to Japan, Europe, and other places for training and study. After joining the company, Tu Hongyan started as a grassroots employee in a garment company under the group and was trained in multiple positions in frontline departments such as production, design, and sales, accumulating extensive experience in corporate development and operations. Combining this with the modern management theory she learned in university and graduate school, she became a new-generation manager equipped with modern business management thinking.
"My mother's approach was to observe for three years, help for three years, support for three years, and finally hand over for three years before transferring power to me," Tu Hongyan recalled. Today, Tu Hongyan and her husband, Li Jianhua, Chairman of Hangzhou Wensli Silk Culture Co., Ltd., have likewise applied this successful succession experience to the training of their daughter, planning ahead. "My daughter graduated from Cornell University in the United States with a bachelor's degree in Fashion Design and Management, and studied Global Management at the University of Hong Kong for her master's degree." Tu Hongyan solemnly introduced at the dinner: after her daughter graduates next year, she will join Wensli starting from the grassroots level to accumulate frontline business and management experience.
Tu Hongyan said that succession requires early training, early delegation of power, and early handover, just as her mother Shen Aiqin did for her.
In a person's 50 years, black hair turns to white, but for Wensli, this is a new starting point. From the "grand blueprint of four major industries" to the development vision of a "century-old brand," Wensli is embarking on a new round of development leap through a profound self-reconstruction. A splendid new journey, with silk as paper and innovation as ink, is unfolding slowly.
