In 1951, it was under the jurisdiction of Wanning District Three, and from 1952 to 1957, it was under the jurisdiction of District Four. Hele Township was established in August 1957, and came under the jurisdiction of Dongfeng People's Commune on October 1, 1958. It was established in December 1959 Hele Commune was separated from Gangbei Commune in June 1960. In September 1983, Hele Commune was converted into a district and in 1987 it was changed into a town. In July 2002, the towns were merged and the new Hele Town (including the original Hele Town and Gangbei Town) was established.
The town government is located in Helexu, 27 kilometers away from Wancheng. Hele Market is commonly known as Hele City, formerly known as Hemu City. It is a distribution center for valuable seafood products in Wanning area. Its predecessor was Zhengtang Street (now the entrance to Zhengtang Village of Sishui Village Committee). It was first placed in the Song Dynasty and got its name from the establishment of the Yamen Court. In the early Ming Dynasty, the streets were destroyed due to civil strife. The merchants moved to the east of Liantang Village to set up shop in huts. There was Hele Fishing Village nearby and the fish market was very prosperous, so it was called Hemu City. "Mu" and "乐" are homophones in the dialect, and it was renamed Hele City in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1974, because the old market was restricted by the site, it was moved north and built in front of Zhengtang Village. The street was in the shape of a cross, and South Street extended to the old city. In 1984, the old and new cities were re-planned. The old ones were demolished and new ones were built. The tile-roofed houses were replaced with flat-roofed buildings. The streets were wide and flat, the markets were neat, and the purchases and sales were large. It became the second largest market town in Wanning.