The first barrel of gold came from Wahaha？ Nongfu Spring Chairperson Zhong Xuanyuan responded

On the evening of March 3, "Zhong Xuanyi denied that the first pot of gold came from Wahaha" was on the hot search.

Chairperson and general manager of Nongfu Spring joint stock company, chairperson of Yangshengtang Co., Ltd. Zhong Shanshan posted on the "Nongfu Spring" WeChat official account "Zhong Shanshan: I have two or three things with Zong Lao", saying that before Zong Qinghou died, he wanted to visit the unfinished line. After Zong Qinghou died, he went to the funeral hall to pay tribute, lay a wreath, and express condolences to Zong Lao’s family.

"Elder Zong hated online violence when he was alive. I never thought that when Elder Zong passed away, there was a lot of slander against me and Nongfu Spring on the Internet, which is not what Elder Zong is happy to see. As a party who was accidentally involved in the whirlpool of events, it is necessary for me to clarify with a few memorable past events of Elder Zong’s life."

Zhong Yixue. Picture source: Nongfu Spring official website

In the article, Zhong mentioned two denials:

First, the cloth business is the first pot of gold for entrepreneurial income, not the online rumor that "the first entrepreneurial income came from Wahaha".

According to Zhong Xuanyuan in the article, he quit his job as a newspaper reporter in February 1988 and went into business in the sea. During his business venture in Hainan, he found that Hainan real estate was just emerging around 1990, and Hainan did not have the ability to process curtain fabrics. Therefore, he established Dacheng Curtain Company in Hainan, shipped curtain fabrics produced in Hangzhou to Hainan for sale, and gradually developed the curtain business to Wangfujing and Yansha general merchandise in Beijing. Therefore, the cloth business is the first pot of gold for his business, rather than the online rumor that "the first business income came from Wahaha".

The second is to deny "being fired by Wahaha for rushing goods".

Zhong Xuanyuan said that in 1991, he met Zong Qinghou at the headquarters of Wahaha, Qingtai Street, Hangzhou, and saw that the production equipment of the canning factory was idle. He remembered the popular eight-treasure porridge cans in South East Asia, so he told Zong Qinghou about this idea. "Zong Lao was very happy and felt that my suggestion had a market. After that, he invested in R & D and developed and produced the well-known Wahaha nutritional eight-treasure porridge, and proposed that I set up Wahaha offices in Guangxi and Hainan to sell Wahaha children’s nutritional oral liquid. I happily agreed. Unfortunately, at that time, the consumer demand in the Hainan and Guangxi markets did not meet expectations, and it was difficult for me to sell the products. After that, several trading companies went to Hainan to ask me to buy goods, and I was able to clear the goods. Later, I learned that the Children’s Nutrition Oral Liquid has a market in Guangdong. "

Many years later, at a sales meeting at Nongfu Spring, Mr. Zhong said, he joked: The Wahaha we didn’t sell in Hainan back then was probably sold to Guangdong, and if it were now, it would be considered a flush. "I didn’t expect that a casual joke at that time has now become a crime of my’ingratitude ‘. I have never received a salary in Wahaha, let alone been fired for flushing."

He mentioned that after that, Nongfu Spring and Wahaha had lawsuits against each other, but in the end, Zhong Shanyuan shook hands with Zong Qinghou in the presence of the main leaders of Hangzhou at the time. Although Zhong Shanyuan still insists on his own views, he emphasizes: "My respect for Zong Lao’s entrepreneurial spirit has never wavered. I have always said on various occasions that Zong Lao is the entrepreneur representative I respect."

"The two or three things with Zong Lao are not only a small story worth remembering, but also a lot of spiritual wealth. I also hope that when the majority of netizens express their remembrance for Zong Lao, they will not be brought to the rhythm by individual self-media or big Vs." Zhong Qianyi wrote.

Nongfu Spring live stream was swiped

On February 25, Zong Qinghou, founder of Wahaha Group, passed away due to illness. After Zong Qinghou passed away, Nongfu Spring, which is located in Hangzhou with Wahaha, has recently been pushed to the forefront of the trend.

After the death of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, some netizens published a series of remarks such as "Zhong Shanyuan’s behavior is a typical farmer and snake" "Zhong Shanyuan was a distributor of Wahaha at that time, and was fired by Wahaha because of the rush" "Zhong Shanyuan held a press conference to announce that he would no longer produce pure water, and stabbed Wahaha’s pure water in the back".

In addition, the Nongfu Spring live stream was also flooded by netizens to swipe the screen "Wahaha", which once caused the female live streaming host to cry and choke.

At the same time, the news of Zhong s lawsuit and business war with his "old boss" Wahaha has also attracted much attention.

It is understood that between 1999 and 2000, Nongfu Spring and Wahaha were locked in a war of words over "whether pure water is beneficial to the human body". Later, Wahaha, Robust and other producers of pure water sued Nongfu Spring for "unfair competition", and then Nongfu Spring countersued.

Zhong Yixue and Zhou Li responded one after another

On the evening of March 3, after Zhong Yixue responded to the above incident, the relevant topic immediately became a hot search.

On the same day, Nongfu Spring Vice President Zhou Li also sent Moments in response to the "storm of holding’Wahaha ‘and stepping on’Nongfu Spring’".

Zhou Li said that Mr. Zong Qinghou was in his seventh year today, and maybe the old man didn’t expect that his death would be used by some so-called "melon eaters" to attack another company in the same city and become a hot topic of public opinion. The two companies were located in the same city. Although they competed in the early years and even went to court, they still competed openly under the legal framework.

According to the data, Zhou Li has served as the deputy general manager of Nongfu Spring joint stock company since July 21, 2019, responsible for the company’s Product Research & Development, Quality Management, Technical Regulations and Legal Affairs.

According to public information, both Wahaha and Nongfu Spring are headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. was founded in 1987. Under the leadership of its founder Zong Qinghou, it has accumulated sales of 860.10 billion yuan in 35 years, profits and taxes of 174 billion yuan, and taxes paid 74.20 billion yuan. Wahaha has 81 production bases and 187 subsidiaries in 29 provinces and autonomous regions across the country, and has nearly 30,000 employees. The scale and efficiency of the enterprise have been in the leading position in the industry for 20 consecutive years, ranking among the top 500 Chinese enterprises, the top 500 Chinese manufacturing industries, and the top 500 Chinese private enterprises. Among Wahaha’s product lines, pure water, AD calcium milk, nutritional fast line, and eight-treasure porridge are household names.

Nongfu Spring joint stock company was established in 1996. In terms of retail sales in 2019, Nongfu Spring ranked among the top three in the Chinese market in terms of tea beverages, functional beverages and fruit juice beverages. Nongfu Spring listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 8, 2020, and the latest market value 482.50 billion Hong Kong dollars.

According to the 2023 Hurun Rich List, Nongfu Spring’s 69-year-old Zhong Shanshan’s wealth is basically the same as the previous year, and he has become China’s richest man for the third time with 450 billion yuan.

■ Integrated from Nongfu ******, Wahaha **ficial website, Guosi through train, daily economic news, ******* News

Editors: Yue Yue, Zhang Aqiang