Prime Highlights
- Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, founded in 1994 with a 500,000-yuan bank loan, is now the world’s largest producer of aluminum wheel hubs and magnesium alloy
- Chen’s back-to-back acquisitions of Canadian firm Meridian Lightweight Technologies and Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Group gave Wanfeng a foothold in global automotive and aviation markets years before both sectors surged in China
Key Facts
- Staff salaries at Wanfeng rise by at least 8% every year, with HR chiefs held accountable if pay falls well below industry peers
- Despite stopping her education at middle school, Chen reads for an hour each night and has kept the habit for over 20 years
Background
Chen Ailian started her career driving tractors in rural China. Today, the 68-year-old leads a manufacturing group valued at 11 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), and her story is drawing attention across social media as a rare example of grassroots ambition turning into global industry leadership.
Chen founded Wanfeng Aluminum Wheel Company in Zhejiang Province in 1994, using a 500,000-yuan bank loan. The company, now called Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, holds the position of the world’s largest producer of aluminum wheel hubs and magnesium alloy.
It also operates as a major aircraft manufacturer, covering the full aviation supply chain.Her path to business was anything but smooth. When her hometown of Xinchang County received a government tractor in the 1970s, Chen applied to drive it.
Officials rejected her at first because she was a woman. She pushed back, attended the training anyway, outperformed every male classmate, and got the job.She later managed an aluminum alloy company before launching Wanfeng.
In 1995, she ordered an entire batch of wheel hubs scrapped after workers found minor cracks, even though safety checks cleared the parts. The decision cost money but built Wanfeng’s reputation fast.
Chen read the market well more than once. Around 2000, she shifted to automotive wheels ahead of China’s car industry boom. She later acquired Canadian firm Meridian Lightweight Technologies, which supplied Tesla and Porsche, opening Wanfeng to international buyers.
In 2016, she bought Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Group, a move that positioned the company well when China’s low-altitude aviation sector expanded years later. Forbes places her net worth at $1.1 billion.
The Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2026 ranking lists her at 95th globally. Her two sons now hold executive roles at the company.
