Beijing (AFP)

He suddenly became the richest man in China: with one leg in mineral water and the other in Covid tests, Zhong Shanshan pulverizes the stock markets and the ranking of world fortunes.

The billionaire, with a gruff reputation, is of a discretion that contrasts with his ubiquitous red cap bottles in China, where few people risk swallowing tap water without boiling it.

At the head of the Nongfu Spring brand, the big boss, who is celebrating his 67th birthday this year, holds more than a quarter of the national bottled water market.

The man now weighs 85 billion dollars (71 billion euros), according to the Hurun ranking of the greatest Chinese fortunes, published last week.

He has become both the richest man in China and Asia, with seventh place in the world.

In quick succession, Zhong Shanshan (pronounced Djongue Chêne-Oak) placed its mineral water on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year, and its Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise laboratory in Shanghai, which wisely invested in a promising niche: tests screening for Covid-19.

Bolstered by these financial transactions, its rise is one of the fastest accumulations of wealth in history, according to financial agency Bloomberg.

- Former mason -

Not bad for someone who, like millions of his compatriots, left school at the age of 12, during the chaos of the Maoist "Cultural Revolution".

Zhong Shanshan had to work as a bricklayer, carpenter and ... reporter, according to Chinese media.

In 1996, he founded Nongfu Spring, in which he still owns 84%, according to the Mintel firm.

The brand has diversified into sugary drinks, especially bottled teas.

The Chinese media have dubbed him "the lone wolf" for his rare public appearances and his allergy to interviews - which does not lack salt for a former journalist.

Mr. Zhong is the anti-Jack Ma, the eccentric founder of the online business group Alibaba, which has long held the crown of the richest man in the country and didn't hesitate to take the stage for a show at the Michael Jackson.

While the two companies are headquartered in Hangzhou, in the Shanghai region, Zhong Shanshan is avoiding meetings with the city's business community, according to a local entrepreneur's statement to the China Economic Weekly.

"I do not like contact with people or banquets where we drink" anything other than water, admitted Zhong Shanshan in a rare interview with the Chinese press.

"I'm not used to flattering other people."

During a conference, the man kept his word.

"He went up to the podium to make a speech. He offended everyone as soon as he started to open his mouth," said one of his former partners in the press.

- Capitalists under surveillance -

Three years after creating Nongfu, the businessman founded a medical group, Yangshengtang, of which Wantai is the biopharmaceutical subsidiary.

Twenty years later, Zhong Shanshan remains its largest shareholder.

Its anti-Covid tests, which give a result in 75 minutes, according to the company's website, have sold more than 10 million copies.

The laboratory is also working on the development of an anti-Covid vaccine that would be administered by nasal spray.

According to Chinese business registers, Zhong Shanshan is present in more than a hundred companies, either in capital or in the form of a seat on the board of directors.

But like other capitalists in the country, he must follow a narrow crest between commercial success and necessary deference to President Xi Jinping's regime.

"The Chinese Communist Party wants Chinese companies to grow and internationalize, but it also wants to keep them under control," Yun Jiang, director of the China Policy Center, an Australian research center, told AFP.

Jack Ma learned this the hard way last year when he found himself forced to abandon a giant IPO shortly after publicly criticizing the country's financial regulation.

No one can escape the "political surveillance" of power, notes Ms. Jiang.

Especially when you are the greatest fortune in China ...

© 2021 AFP