On February 25, Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group, passed away due to illness. After Zong Qinghou's death, Nongfu Spring, who lives in Hangzhou with Wahaha, said that it had recently suffered a cyber attack.
On March 3, the official Weibo of "Nongfu Spring" released "Zhong: Two or Three Things Between Me and Zong Lao". Zhong Zhong, the founder, chairman and general manager of Nongfu Spring, said that with the death of Zong Lao, a large number of slanders against me and Nongfu Spring have appeared on the Internet. As a party who was accidentally involved in the whirlpool of events, it was necessary for him to borrow several memories of the past that Zong Lao had before his life to clarify.
Zhong denied that the first pot of gold came from Wahaha.
Zhong said that before Zong Qinghou died, he wanted to visit but did not make the trip. After the death of Empress Zong Qing, he went to the mourning hall to pay respects and lay wreaths, and expressed his condolences to the family of Zong Lao. "Elder Zong hated online violence when he was alive. Unexpectedly, after the death of Elder Zong, there were a lot of slanders against me and Nongfu Spring on the Internet, which was by no means what Elder Zong liked. As a party involved in the whirlpool of events involved in the accident, it is necessary for me to draw on several memories of Zong Lao's life to clarify.
In this article, Chung recalls his entrepreneurial experience, his experience working at Wahaha, and the different concepts and related lawsuits between Zong Qinghou and Zong Qinghou after founding Nongfu Spring.
Zhong said that in 1991, he went to the Wahaha headquarters on Qingtai Street in Hangzhou to visit Zong Lao, and then went to see the canning factory he had just bought with Zonglao. It is a large state-owned factory with more than 2,200 people. "I saw that professional canned food production equipment was idle, so I remembered the canned eight-treasure porridge that was popular in some parts of Southeast Asia at that time. I told Elder Zong about this idea. Elder Zong was very happy. He thinks there's a market for my proposal. Later, he invested in R&D, development and production of the famous Wahaha Nutritional Eight Treasure Porridge, and suggested that I set up Wahaha offices in Guangxi and Hainan to sell Wahaha Children's Nutrition Oral Liquid. I readily agreed. In desperation, the consumer demand in Hainan and Guangxi did not meet expectations at that time, and it was difficult for me to sell products when I ran all over the market. After that, several trading companies went to Hainan to ask me to buy goods, so that I could clean up the purchases. Later, I learned that there is a market for children's nutritional oral liquid in Guangdong.
Zhong Lianlian said that many years later, at a sales meeting at Nongfu Spring, he joked: Wahaha, which we did not sell in Hainan, was probably sold to Guangdong. If we put it in now, it will be identified as a reverse item. "I didn't expect that what was a casual joke at the time had now become my "ungrateful" crime. I've never received a salary at Wahaha, let alone been fired for a write-off. ”
Despite the controversy, Chung said, "My respect for Zong Lao's entrepreneurial spirit has never wavered. I always say on various occasions that Zong Lao is a representative of entrepreneurs I respect. ”
He also clarified the rumors of Wahaha's first pot of gold, saying that the cloth business was the first pot of gold he started his business, not the "first income of Wahaha's business" as rumored on the Internet.
Zhong said that he also hopes that the majority of netizens will not be taken away by individual self-** or big V while expressing their memories of the elder Zong.
The two are companies in the same city, and both are beverage giants
It is worth noting that, according to a report by the China News Service National Direct Express, on March 3, Zhou Li, vice president of Nongfu Spring, posted on Moments in response to the "Praise Wahaha Trampling on Nongfu Spring" turmoil. Zhou Li said that Mr. Zong Qinghou was the top seven today. Maybe the old gentleman didn't expect that his death would be used by some so-called "melon eaters" to attack another business in the same city and become a hot spot. Although the two companies competed in the same city, in the early years, even under the legal framework, Bo Gongtang still competed above board.
According to the data, Zhou Li has served as the deputy general manager of Nongfu Spring since July 21, 2019, responsible for the company's product research and development, quality management, technical regulations and legal affairs.
On the evening of March 3, "The Vice President of Nongfu Spring Responded to Praise Wahaha and Stepped on Nongfu Spring" was the first hot search, and "Zhong denied Wahaha's first pot of gold" also appeared on the hot search.
Wahaha and Nongfu Spring are headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Hangzhou Wahaha Group was established in 1987, with a cumulative sales of 860.1 billion yuan, profits and taxes of 174 billion yuan, and taxes of 74.2 billion yuan in 35 years. Wahaha has 81 production bases and 187 subsidiaries in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, with nearly 30,000 employees, and has been in the leading position in the industry for 20 consecutive years, ranking among the top 500 Chinese enterprises, China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises, and China's top 500 private enterprises. Purified water, AD calcium milk, nutrition express, and eight-treasure porridge are well-known domestic products in Wahaha's product line.
Founded in 1996, Nongfu Spring*** ranks among the top three in the Chinese market in terms of retail sales in 2019. On September 8, 2020, Nongfu Spring was listed on the Hong Kong ** Stock Exchange, with the latest market value of HK $482.5 billion.
According to the 2023 Hurun Report, the 69-year-old Nongfu Spring, which is basically the same as last year, has become the richest man in China for the third time with 450 billion yuan.
After Zong Qinghou's death, in recent days, many netizens have remembered the entrepreneur on social **. The topic of "Wahaha Lab Royal Water" ranked first in popular searches.
Offline, many consumers spontaneously buy Wahaha products, including purified water, AD calcium milk, nutrition express, etc. Some netizens said that the purified water in Wahaha in some supermarkets is even out of stock.
On March 1, the Wahaha social platform officially announced that it has received countless attention and support recently, and the number of store orders has increased significantly. The company arranges more colleagues to pack and ship. Please be patient, family members who can't wait can apply for a refund. Wahaha apologizes for not having a better service experience and recommends that you consume rationally and buy on demand.