China News Service, Hangzhou, February 25 (Xi Jinyan, Lan Yini) After the rain, Hangzhou is experiencing the first cold wave in the Year of the Dragon.

In the cold spring, Wahaha Group issued an obituary. Comrade Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at 10:30 on February 25, 2024 at the age of 79 due to ineffective treatment.

　　This news made many Zhejiang businessmen sigh with regret.

As the first generation of Zhejiang businessmen since the reform and opening up, Zong Qinghou started from scratch at the age of 42. He single-handedly founded Wahaha Group and became China's richest man three times.

While running a good business, Zong Qinghou also does not forget to shoulder social responsibilities, is enthusiastic about charity and public welfare, and gives back to the society.

　　Zong Qinghou, who "came out" of poverty, was grateful for the opportunities given by the times.

In an interview with China News Network, he once emphasized: The richest man is just a false name; sharing wealth is meaningful.

And this also became an important perspective when looking back on his life.

Bathing in the spring breeze of the times, he became the "richest man" from scratch at the age of 42

　　Wearing a white shirt and a pair of black cloth shoes, many people find it difficult to associate Zong Qinghou with the "richest man in China" when they see him dressed simply.

　　As the first generation of Zhejiang businessmen since the reform and opening up, Zong Qinghou is deeply aware of poverty.

Zong Qinghou said that "frugality" has long become a habit "in the bones".

　　According to the book "An Oral History of Zhejiang's 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up", Zong Qinghou recalled that when he was a child, his father did not have a job, and his mother had to raise five children with a salary of 40 yuan.

After graduating from junior high school at the age of 17, she worked at the Mamu Farm in Zhoushan and the tea farm in Shaoxing for 14 years. In 1978, her mother retired and became a carton factory worker.

　　At that time, he worked as a salesman, riding a tricycle to sell popsicles and stationery, carrying several floor-standing fans on the green train, building floors in simple guest houses, and setting up stalls outside the gate of the Canton Fair... This is exactly what happened during this period. The training he experienced laid a solid foundation for him to start Wahaha from scratch.

　　It is precisely because he has tasted the taste of poverty that Zong Qinghou's ideal since childhood was to make a lot of money to repay his parents.

After the news of reform and opening up came out, he had a premonition that "a change was brewing" and was always ready to look for an opportunity to start a business.

Zong Qinghou was riding a scooter, with only his back exposed, mixed among a group of energetic primary school students.

Photo courtesy of Wahaha

　　In 1987, he borrowed 140,000 yuan to contract and operate the distribution department of a school-run enterprise in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City, with a total of three employees including two retired teachers.

At that time, Zong Qinghou was riding a tricycle selling popsicles and stationery door-to-door. A popsicle sold for four cents, and he could only earn a few cents. But he believed that Wahaha’s decades of development started from these few cents. of.

　　Later, he seized the business opportunity due to the widespread malnutrition among students at that time and found experts to develop a nutritional solution for children that was still blank in the market at that time.

In an era when door-to-door advertising companies were "as rare as giant pandas", Zong Qinghou insisted on visiting newspapers and TV stations in cities. Finally, the advertisement "Drink Wahaha and eat delicious" successfully opened up the market of Wahaha nutritional solution. In the third year, sales approached the 100 million yuan mark, and he also made his first pot of gold.

　　Although the company's development momentum is strong, Wahaha Group's journey to large-scale operations is not smooth.

In 1991, Wahaha Nutritional Food Factory merged with Hangzhou Canned Food Factory.

The "small private fish" eating the "big state-owned fish" caused controversy. Zong Qinghou was criticized by some newspapers for "poaching socialism." Employees of both companies also complained repeatedly.

　　In the face of doubts, Zong Qinghou "opened his heart" with thousands of employees to inspire everyone's confidence.

He first used a conference to bring thousands of people home, and then proved with actions and facts: After the establishment of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, it successfully revitalized the existing assets of Hangzhou Cannery by taking advantage of its product and market advantages, and turned it around in three months. .

Wahaha Group has become one of the top 500 industrial enterprises in the country in terms of profit and tax, and Zong Qinghou also aspired to be the richest man in China in 2010.

　　Since its establishment, Zong Qinghou has led Wahaha to continuously innovate, adhere to the real economy, and create a large number of household beverage brands including Wahaha pure water, AD calcium milk, etc., demonstrating the spirit of Zhejiang merchants who keep pace with the times.

In 1991, with the help of the Hangzhou Municipal Government, Zong Qinghou merged the old state-owned factory - Hangzhou Canned Food Factory with compensation for more than 80 million yuan, creating the miracle of "the small fish eating the big fish".

Photo courtesy of Wahaha

　　Despite becoming China's richest man three times, Zong Qinghou still lives a simple life for thirty years, with annual living expenses not exceeding 50,000 yuan.

Zong Qinghou said: "I am an ordinary person, a mortal who rose from the bottom. Fortunately, I was born in this great era."

Don’t forget how you came, from “the richest man” to “the richest man in common”

　　For Zong Qinghou, choosing to start a business in his 40s stems from the impulse to escape poverty. He purely hopes to feed, clothe and live a good life for his family.

　　After escaping poverty and possessing a certain amount of wealth, Zong Qinghou also began to think new: how to let more people share wealth and move towards common prosperity.

　　Zong Qinghou has been doing charity for nearly 30 years, and he pays most attention to education in all fields.

In a previous interview, he said: "Wahaha is a 'school-run enterprise' and it is only natural that we make money for education."

　　In 2000, Hangzhou held the "Spring Breeze Action" for the first time. Zong Qinghou donated approximately 124.6 million yuan to actively help laid-off workers and impoverished families solve their living problems.

The "Wahaha Spring Breeze Student Aid" special fund he established has donated a total of 104.6 million yuan as of 2021, helping more than 30,000 students realize their "college dream."

　　In his 70s, Zong Qinghou was still working hard for children’s education.

He personally went to Kangding City, Ganzi Prefecture, which is nearly 3,000 meters above sea level. In addition to donating equipment, Zong Qinghou also brought a team, including the person in charge of e-commerce, a PhD from the Food Research Institute, engineers, and five heating solution suppliers.

　　This is because Zong Qinghou believes that poverty alleviation should not just be financial assistance, but the focus is to use industries to activate local resources so that the region has the ability to continue to generate blood.

　　At the end of 1994, Zong Qinghou led Wahaha out of Zhejiang and established the first Wahaha foreign company in Fuling, Chongqing.

The reason behind this is to actively respond to the State Council’s call for counterpart support for the resettlement work in the Three Gorges Reservoir area and to devote itself to the development of the western region.

That year, he annexed three extremely distressed enterprises that were flooded in Fuling area and resettled more than 1,300 people.

　　Today, Wahaha has invested 8.6 billion yuan to establish 72 branches in 17 provinces and cities in the central and western regions and poverty-stricken areas, including Guangyuan in Sichuan, Hong'an in Hubei, Jingyu in Jilin, Yanbian in Jilin, and Ji'an in Jiangxi, solving the problems of 13,000 people. The problem of getting rich.

These factories have also developed into leading local enterprises and major profit and tax generators.

　　"I was also a poor person before, but it was the party and the government that gave me the opportunity to get rich through hard work. We should drink water and remember its source, follow the party, run a good business, pay more taxes, create more jobs, and do more charity." At a gathering of Zhejiang businessmen. On the forum, Zong Qinghou once said deeply.

　　It is obviously time to enjoy his old age in peace, but Zong Qinghou, who is deeply attached to his family and country, still cannot stop. He is still on the front line at work, arriving at the company at 7 a.m. and getting off work at 11 p.m., just like when he first started his business.

In his later years, Zong Qinghou was still busy working for his family and country.

Photo courtesy of Wahaha

　　"We have always believed that real wealth is not material wealth, but spiritual wealth." As one of the few first-generation Zhejiang businessmen still running on the front lines, Zong Qinghou believes that he still has a lot to do.

But now, his figure is forever fixed in this slowly coming spring.

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