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Zong Qinghou (Chinese:宗庆后; born 1945) is a Chinese billionaire businessman, and the founder, chairman and CEO of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group, China's leading beverage company. As of March 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$8.7 billion.


Biography

Zong is a native of
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
, and had little formal education. After graduating from secondary school, Zong worked at the
Zhoushan Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of H ...
salt farm. He returned home in 1979 on the retirement of his mother, who was a school teacher."娃哈哈"的新童話
(轉載自証券日報)
People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
,
He eventually returned to
Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, and only found menial work at a local school due to the low level of his education. In 1987, he targeted a minigrocery in a school in
Shangcheng District Shangcheng District () is the county seat and one of ten urban districts of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China, it is located in the core urban area of Hangzhou. The district has an area of and a population o ...
, Hangzhou, selling milk. Zong headed the embryonic Wahaha business, which distributed fizzy soft drinks, ice and stationery. Together with two retired schoolteachers, he borrowed the sum of
CNY The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
140,000, to start producing milk drinks for distribution. He obtained independence from an early government partner by stressing his links with Danone. With his autocratic style and workaholic ethic, he built Wahaha into the largest beverage manufacturer in the People's Republic of China. The WHH joint venture entered into with Groupe Danone involved the inward investment of US$70 million in five joint venture companies in exchange for 51% Groupe Danone ownership in each company. The trademark agreement signed on 29 February 1996 gave the JVs the exclusive rights of production, distribution and sales of products under the Wahaha brand. Collaboration has grown into 39 joint venture entities by 2007. In 2007, the relationship turned sour. Danone had accused Wahaha of "secretly operating a set of parallel companies that mirrored the joint venture’s operations with virtually identical products and siphoned off as much as $100 million from the partnership." Danone and Wahaha reached a settlement and dissolved their partnership. Zong resigned as Chairman of the joint ventures on 5 June 2007. ''Forbes'' named Zong as China's richest man in 2010."Zong Qinghou tops Forbes' mainland rich list"
''China Daily'', 12 March 2010
He was ranked as China's richest man in 2012 and second-richest in 2013, according to the China Rich List, published by Hurun Report.Rich List 2013
''Hurun Report, China Rich List'', 5 August 2014


Personal

Zong has served as a delegate to the Chinese
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...
since 2002. He was re-elected in 2007.Eric Mu
"Wahaha chairman has US green card"
''Danwei'', 24 June 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
He is married to Shi Youzhen (施幼珍), and they have one child, a daughter, Fuli (''Kelly'') Zong (宗馥莉). Shi is purchasing manager at Wahaha.Russell Flannery

''Forbes'', 18 June 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
Zong formerly held permanent resident status in the United States, which he obtained to make it easier for him to travel to the country and look after his investments there. His daughter attended Pepperdine University in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
and naturalized as a U.S. citizen, but later moved back to China and in 2007 began the procedure to renounce her U.S. citizenship. Zong gained wide support as he played the role of "
David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
" against a French "
Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) a ...
" gobbling up Chinese companies. However, with the revelation of his green card in 2008, public perceptions changed and his reputation suffered. In 2013, he stated that because he did not re-enter the U.S. for several years, his status was thus deemed abandoned.


Tax evasion allegations

Zong claimed to have been paid a salary of 3,000 EUR and 100,000 EUR annual allowances plus a bonus worth 1% of the annual profit of the joint ventures, totaling 70 million yuan of income every year.Wang Zhenghua
"Drinks magnate probed over tax"
''
China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...
'', 15 April 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2008
'' Caijing'' reported in April 2008 that Zong was being investigated for allegedly evading taxes amounting to some ¥ 300 million. An investigator had alleged that Zong "...earned far more than this and hasn't fully reported the tax for years". ''Caijing'' implied there may have been less than transparent payments through web of Hong Kong-registered accounts of Zong, Shi, daughter Fuli; and the former Party secretary of Wahaha, Du Jianying. Zong had apparently paid more than 200 million yuan in back taxes in October 2007, after the investigation kicked off. However, the magazine suspected Zong still owed millions more.


Honorary titles

List of titles: * National Excellent Entrepreneur * National Excellent Manager * Model of Patriotism to Support the Armed Forces * Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics * The First Chinese Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Prize


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zong, Qinghou 1945 births Living people Hangzhou Wahaha Group people Businesspeople from Hangzhou Businesspeople in the drink industry Chinese chief executives Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress Billionaires from Zhejiang Politicians from Hangzhou People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang 20th-century Chinese businesspeople 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese company founders Chinese food industry businesspeople