JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
by stefek99
HTML
<textarea id="output1"></textarea>
<textarea id="output2"></textarea>
Note: lack of <li> of tags.
JavaScript
var template = "<li><a href='#'>link</a></li>";
var $jqueryElement = $(template);
$("#output1").val(template);
$("#output2").val($jqueryElement.html());