At 10 o'clock on February 25, 2024, Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at the age of 79 due to ineffective medical treatment.
This entrepreneur, who has been the richest man many times, is very low-key and simple, dressed simply, and usually wears cloth shoes to walk all over the world, known as him"The richest man in cloth shoes".
Perhaps, if this didn't happen, I'm afraid most people wouldn't know about this figure at all.
Born in 1945, Zong Qinghou was born in a poor family in his early years, and later became an ordinary primary school teacher.
From 1963 to 1978, he worked as a farmer at Zhoushan Mamu Farm (now Donghai Farm) and as a producer at the Shaoxing Tea Factory in Zhejiang.
After the reform and opening up, Zong Qinghou went to the sea to do business for several yearsUntil 1987, the 42-year-old Zong Qinghou ushered in a major turning point in his career.
This year, he took over the distribution department of a school-run enterprise and founded the Wahaha brand on this basis.
Wahaha's first product was a nutritional product for children, and then Wahaha gradually developed into a well-known beverage and food company in China and even internationally, especially in the futurePurified water, AD calcium milkand other products are well-known.
With his own innovation and persistence, he has created his own beverage brand.
Once, in the process of distributing the health care product "Chinese Pollen Oral Liquid", Zong Qinghou had a keen insight that although the product had a positive effect on the physical improvement of the student group, it did not fully realize its potential in the market due to its high price.
He took the initiative to negotiate with manufacturers and proposed to introduce a version of the product that simplified packaging and reduced costs to meet the broader market demand.
This strategy adjustment has paid off, and it is a lite version"Chinese pollen oral liquid".Quickly received a warm welcome, the market demand surged, so that the production capacity of the original manufacturer is difficult to meet the demand gap in the market.
Faced with such a market opportunity, Zong Qinghou persuaded the Hangzhou Planning Commission to support and approve the establishment of Hangzhou Baoling Children's Nutrition Food Factory.
Subsequently, on the premise of ensuring the authorization of the original manufacturer, Zong Qinghou introduced an advanced filling production line for the new factory.
In a short period of time, the newly built factory achieved a substantial increase in sales performance, with cumulative sales of 4.36 million yuan that year, and a profit of 22 percent to the state20,000 RMB,It marks an important breakthrough in Wahaha's entrepreneurial journey.
Under the leadership of Zong Qinghou, Wahaha Group has continued to grow, and his business strategy and market insight have enabled the company to rise rapidly in the tide of reform and opening up, and become a leader among China's private enterprises.
He has been the richest man in China many times, and emphasized that "without reform and opening up, there would be no Wahaha", expressing his deep gratitude to the national policy to support the development of enterprises.
Zong Qinghou enjoys a high reputation and wide recognition in the business circles at home and abroad. His leadership and business achievements have been demonstrated not only in China, but also on the international stage.
In 2010, 2012 and 2013, Zong Qinghou topped the Forbes China Rich List for three consecutive years, demonstrating his outstanding contributions and influence in China's economic field.
Globally, Zong Qinghou has been selected into the highly authoritative list of "The World's Most Influential People" many timesand "World's Best CEO" and other honor lists, showing his extraordinary status as a world-class entrepreneur.
He actively participates in international exchange activities and has established deep friendship and cooperative relations with leaders, business giants and elites from all over the world and regions.
Through extensive international cooperation and exchanges, it has played an indispensable role in promoting the development of friendly relations between China and foreign countries and the deepening of economic and trade cooperation, demonstrating the international vision and spirit of responsibility of Chinese entrepreneurs.
With his extremely simple lifestyle, Zong Qinghou has become a model of unassuming, low-key and pragmatic business leaders.
His lifestyle was in stark contrast to the immense wealth he had amassed and his standing in the business world.
Although he is the head of a well-known company, Zong Qinghou is never keen to show his wealth or status symbols, but instead shows people with a simple attitude to life.
His clothing choices are always approachable and steady, often wearing simple black clothes with dozens of yuan a pair of cloth shoes, which made him deeply impressed in the public eye, and was called "the richest man in cloth shoes" by the majority of netizens.
In terms of travel, Zong Qinghou abandoned luxury and pomp, refusing to take private jets or enjoy first-class treatmentWhether it is by plane or high-speed rail, he insists on sitting in the second-class seat of economy class or even high-speed rail, surrounded by assistants who accompany him, but personally drags the suitcase and blends into the ordinary passengers.
This kind of people-friendly behavior shows his humility and frugality as an entrepreneur.
As for daily life, Zong Qinghou's sense of thrift is equally admirable.
It is rumored that after quitting smoking, his annual living expenses were controlled within 50,000 yuan, a figure that is undoubtedly a powerful proof of the minimalism of material desires for an entrepreneur who once became one of the richest people in China.
His practical actions not only gave the outside world a new understanding of him, but also won him wide respect and deep love from all walks of life.
Zong Qinghou's way of dealing with the world is like a mirror, reflecting the indifferent fame and fortune behind success and the sincere love for life, and has become a life model for many latecomers to emulate and learn.
In terms of governing society, as a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress, Zong Qinghou put forward a proposal aimed at alleviating the pressure on people's lives during his term of office, namelyExempt wage earners from personal income tax as a way to offset the growing burden of living costs.
In addition, he paid attention to the housing difficulties faced by the younger generation and put forward policy proposals to ensure that every young family has access to an affordable housing to meet their basic housing needs.
Zong Qinghou further analyzed the reasons for the high housing prices, and pointed out that land transfer fees account for a considerable proportion of the total price of houses, which is one of the key factors pushing up housing prices.
He advocated that the existing real estate market mechanism should be reformed, and the land transfer fee (i.e. floor price) should be listed separately from the final selling price of the house and adjusted reasonablyto alleviate the economic pressure of home buyers and promote the healthy development of the real estate market and social fairness and justice.
In July 2009, Zong Qinghou single-handedly founded the Zhejiang Wahaha Charity Association, and actively participated in a wide range of social welfare undertakings.
Whether it is in the face of natural disasters such as floods, snow disasters, droughts, etc., as well as public crises, Wahaha Group has shown a great sense of social responsibility and generosityAs of seven years later, it has donated more than 5 to public welfare and charity400 million RMB.
For the feedback in the field of education, Zong Qinghou is full of affection and goes all out. Over the years, Wahaha has helped build 23 Hope Primary Schools across the country and set up 100 sunshine playground projects, with a total of more than 300 million yuan in support of education over the years.
By the end of 2017, the group had awarded a total of 74.6 million yuan in grants, benefiting 16,874 college students in need.
After 2011, Zong Qinghou specially set up the "Wahaha Spring Breeze Scholarship" special project**, and by 2018, the total amount of the special project had reached 70 million yuan, successfully helping 20,401 students in difficulty.
In the face of major disasters in the country, Zong Qinghou's response was equally swift and powerful. 2In 008, when Wenchuan was the first to go, the Wahaha Group under his leadership donated more than 15 million yuan; In 2010, when the southwest region was hit by a severe drought, it donated more than 850 yuan of funds.
During the Ya'an ** period in 2013, Zong Qinghou immediately organized the deployment of millions of bottles of drinking water, beverages and eight-treasure porridge and other materials to urgently support the disaster area, and donated an additional 10 million yuan for the reconstruction of the homes of the affected residents.
At the beginning of 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out in Wuhan, Wahaha once again generously donated 15 million yuan in cash, as well as drinking water, eight-treasure porridge and other products worth more than 8 million yuan to support the fight against the epidemic with practical actions.
Zong Qinghou practices the social responsibility of entrepreneurs with practical actions, not only committed to the development of enterprises, but also conveys the concern and care for social, educational and people's livelihood issues through a series of public welfare and good deeds.
Zong Qinghou is known for his pragmatic and diligent work attitude, and even in his later years, he still sticks to his post, and his deeds of insisting on working with nasal cannula inserted are admirable.
He has also been highly praised for his humanistic care for employees, and has said that he will not easily dismiss employees over the age of 45, showing a strong sense of social responsibility.
As an outstanding builder of socialism with Chinese characteristics and one of the 100 outstanding private entrepreneurs in the 40 years of reform and opening up, Zong Qinghou has not only made great achievements in the economic field, but also actively participated in social affairs, successively served as a deputy to the National People's Congress and other positions, and made important contributions to the development and social progress of China's private enterprises.
Zong Qinghou's death is undoubtedly an immeasurable loss in China's national industrial field, and it also brings deep sorrow to the vast number of consumer groups.
His life is a vivid and vivid legendary narrative, a history of entrepreneurship full of wisdom and courage, and a textbook record of entrepreneurship and social responsibility.
With his solid steps and immortal practice, he profoundly explained what true entrepreneurship is—it is a kind of unswerving pursuit of innovation, a kind of responsibility for social welfare, and an outstanding display of personality charm.
Mr. Zong Qinghou's story has inspired countless latecomers with dreams and ambitions to break the waves in the business sea.
His passing is a deplorable for usHowever, his deeds and spirit will forever be recorded in the annals of history, constantly inspiring and inspiring the Chinese nation to forge ahead and create new glories on the road of economic construction.