1905 Ningbo is still in the embryonic stage of industry. At that time, the chimney of Hefeng Cotton Mill, one of the earliest industrial "three and a half chimneys" in Ningbo, stood by the Yongjiang River, inheriting the industrial civilization of Ningbo, one of the birthplaces of modern industry and commerce in China, which was the predecessor of Vico.
Hefeng Cotton Mill is an early modern factory in Ningbo. After the signing of treaty of nanking, Ningbo, as one of the "five-port trade", opened to the outside world, and foreign goods and fabrics flooded the Ningbo market, which dealt a heavy blow to China's handicraft industry. Imported textiles can't meet the vast market demand in China, so some big bureaucrats, big landlords and big businessmen in China are also interested in the imperialist way of making money. 1887, Yan Xinhou, a former staff member of Henan Salt Supervision Bureau, founded the first machine ginning factory in China, named "Tongjiuyuan ginning factory" in Wantou, a northern suburb of Ningbo. Later, on the basis of ginning factory, the earliest cotton mill in Zhejiang Province-Tongjiuyuan Textile Layout was established.
1904, shareholder Dai Ruiqing had a conflict of interest with Yan Jia, and was ready to quit Tongjiuyuan and start a new stove. With its strong economic strength and the strong support of Gu, the general manager of Ningbo China Merchants Bureau, who advocated "resisting spillover benefits, supplying the mainland and supporting the people with grain", Dai Ruiqing gathered 463 shareholders and established Hefeng Textile Co., Ltd. in Jiangdong Ice Factory on March 1905 (February 31st, Guangxu of Qing Dynasty). Since then, Hefeng Cotton Textile Factory and the whole Ningbo textile industry have experienced many changes, and Vico Holding Group Co., Ltd. is the final crystallization of this historical evolution.