In recent days, the appointment of Zong Jichang, the illegitimate son of Zong Qinghou, founder of the Wahaha Group, as the chairman, manager, and legal representative of a newly established food company in Hangzhou has sparked public attention. Following Zong Qinghou’s death, a family inheritance dispute involving his three illegitimate children unfolded, causing the collapse of his image as the “one wife, one daughter, one pair of cloth shoes” figure, and raising widespread doubts among the public regarding his role as a National People’s Congress (NPC) deputy of the Chinese Communist Party and a “patriotic entrepreneur”.
天眼查 (Tianyancha) data shows that on July 31st, Hangzhou Tianqi Youpin Food Co., Ltd. was established with a registered capital of 3 million yuan, involving operations in internet sales, food import and export, food sales, and more.
According to a report by the Daily Economic News on August 3rd, the company is jointly owned by Zhejiang Sanjie Investment Management Co., Ltd. and Bairuiyuan Goji Co., Ltd. Shareholding transparency reveals that Du Jianying is the actual controlling shareholder of the company, with Zong Jichang serving as the chairman, manager, and legal representative of the company.
Public records indicate that Du Jianying was born in Hangzhou in January 1966, graduated from Zhejiang University in Optical Instrument Engineering in 1988, and subsequently entered professional work at a medical optical instrument factory in Hangzhou. In September 1991, at the age of 25, Du Jianying joined the Wahaha Group. During his tenure at the Wahaha Group, Du Jianying served as the Party Secretary of the Wahaha Group.
In September 2019, Wahaha announced that Du Jianying had reached the normal retirement age and stepped down from the board of directors.
In February 2024, following Zong Qinghou’s passing, Du Jianying became embroiled in the Zong family’s multi-billion-dollar inheritance dispute.
At that time, according to a report by Phoenix Finance, Liu Yang, who had been dealing with the Zong family for many years, revealed that in 2018, the Zong family compiled a family tree for Zong Qinghou’s deceased father, confirming that apart from Zong Fuli, Zong Qinghou had six other children. Among them, Zong Jichang (Jacky Zong, born in 1996), Zong Jieli (Jessie Zong, born in 1998), and Zong Jisheng (Jerry Zong) were confirmed to be the children of the Wahaha veteran, Du Jianying.
In July 2025, Zong Jichang, Zong Jieli, and Zong Jisheng filed lawsuits in Hong Kong and Hangzhou, seeking an injunction to prevent Zong Fuli from disposing of the assets in the HSBC bank account and claiming the $2.1 billion trust rights promised by their late father, Zong Qinghou. Subsequently, the plaintiffs claimed that the actual assets in the relevant HSBC accounts in Hong Kong amounted to approximately $1.8 billion, thus requesting the court to protect these assets from being disposed of by Zong Fuli.
On July 21st this year, a reporter from the Daily Economic News learned that the Hong Kong High Court made the latest ruling on the Zong Qinghou family inheritance dispute, rejecting the appeal application of the defendants Zong Fuli (the first defendant) and Jian Hao Ventures Limited (the second defendant), and upholding the asset preservation and disclosure orders made by the trial judge on August 1, 2025. The court also ordered Zong Fuli to pay the plaintiffs 250,000 Hong Kong dollars in litigation costs.
The emergence of the three illegitimate children and the exposure of the $1.8 billion offshore trust have revealed that Zong Qinghou, the entrepreneur who rose from grassroots beginnings, is not as perfect as the public perception.
Zong Qinghou, as an NPC deputy of the Chinese Communist Party, was once portrayed by the media as the “richest shoemaker”, renowned for his simple lifestyle and patriotic sentiments, with personal annual expenses not exceeding 50,000 yuan, office space less than 50 square meters, and even described in many articles as a model entrepreneur who “remained faithful throughout his life, without any scandals”. Therefore, the controversy surrounding his inheritance has prompted a profound reflection among the public on the integrity and transparency of NPC deputies of the Chinese Communist Party.