Sun Honglie, male, Han nationality, is a native of Puyang, Henan Province. He graduated from Beijing Agricultural University in 1954 and was a postgraduate student at the Shenyang Forest Soil Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1960. Sun is an expert on soil geography and land resources.
Sun's academic career has focused on the surveying and research of agricultural natural resources and regional comprehensive development. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he directed the comprehensive scientific investigation of Qinghai-Tibet platean by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His academic contributions include stressing that natural resources should be comprehensively studied as part of an integrated system.
He served as a researcher for the Geographical Science and Resources Institute within the Chinese Academy of Sciences; he later became the deputy head of the academy. Sun has also been the vice-chairman of the International Science Associated Society.
In 1991, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.