---
title: "China's New 'Richest Man' Resigns! 'I Won't Be Chairman Anymore' - Zhong Shanshan Loses 20 Billion in One Day"
description: "After becoming the richest man, they chose to retire. On the 14th, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd. announced on the evening of the 13th that Zhong Shanshan resigned as director and chairman of the company due to personal reasons, also resigning from his positions as convener of the board's strategy committee and nomination committee. Zhong Shanshan is currently chairman of Nongfu Spring, holding an 84.41% stake. In November 2020, Nongfu Spring, known as 'Moutai in water', saw its stock price hit a new high, and Zhong Shanshan's wealth surpassed Ma Yun and Ma Huateng to become China's richest man due to his controlling stakes in both Nongfu Spring and Wantai Biological."
author: "New Distribution"
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published: "2021-01-17"
language: "en"
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# China's New 'Richest Man' Resigns! 'I Won't Be Chairman Anymore' - Zhong Shanshan Loses 20 Billion in One Day

> After becoming the richest man, they chose to retire. On the 14th, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd. announced on the evening of the 13th that Zhong Shanshan resigned as director and chairman of the company due to personal reasons, also resigning from his positions as convener of the board's strategy committee and nomination committee. Zhong Shanshan is currently chairman of Nongfu Spring, holding an 84.41% stake. In November 2020, Nongfu Spring, known as 'Moutai in water', saw its stock price hit a new high, and Zhong Shanshan's wealth surpassed Ma Yun and Ma Huateng to become China's richest man due to his controlling stakes in both Nongfu Spring and Wantai Biological.

**After becoming the richest man, they chose to retire.**
On the 14th, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd. announced on the evening of the 13th that Zhong Shanshan resigned as director and chairman of the company due to personal reasons, also resigning from his positions as convener of the board's strategy committee and nomination committee.
Zhong Shanshan is currently chairman of Nongfu Spring, holding an 84.41% stake. In November 2020, Nongfu Spring, known as 'Moutai in water', saw its stock price hit a new high. Zhong Shanshan's wealth surpassed Ma Yun and Ma Huateng to become China's richest man due to his controlling stakes in both Nongfu Spring and Wantai Biological.
**-01-****Asia's Richest Man Steps Down: Resigns from All Positions****Wantai Biological Market Cap Exceeds 100 Billion**
**67-year-old Zhong Shanshan chooses to step down.**
On the evening of January 13, Wantai Biological announced that the board received a resignation report from Chairman Zhong Shanshan. Zhong resigned as director and chairman due to personal reasons, also resigning from his positions as convener of the board's strategy committee and nomination committee. After resignation, Zhong will no longer hold any position in the company.
The Wantai Biological board secretary office stated that after stepping down as chairman, Zhong will no longer participate in the company's actual operations. However, his shares in the company remain locked, and his status as actual controller remains unchanged. Investment community learned that Zhong holds a total of 325,875,518 shares directly and indirectly, accounting for 75.15% of the company's total shares.
The story between Zhong and Wantai Biological dates back 20 years. In 2000, Yangshengtang, led by Zhong, established the 'Xiamen University Yangshengtang Biopharmaceutical Laboratory' in cooperation with Xiamen University.
In September of the following year, 47-year-old Zhong, through contacts at Xiamen University, spent 17.1 million yuan to buy Wantai Biological, a biopharmaceutical company that had been repeatedly 'sold', from Hong Kong investors, holding 95% of its shares, officially entering the biological vaccine industry.
Since then, Wantai Biological developed quietly for years. In 2016, GSK's HPV vaccine was approved in China, making HPV vaccines a focus. Wantai Biological's bivalent HPV vaccine, developed with Xiamen University, was approved at the end of 2019, becoming the first domestically produced cervical cancer vaccine approved.
In April 2020, Wantai Biological successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under the halo of 'first domestic HPV vaccine', marking Zhong's first listed company. Just four months after listing, Wantai Biological experienced 26 consecutive limit-up days, with the stock price soaring from an issue price of 12.6 yuan per share to a high of 296.80 yuan, an increase of 2153%. As of writing, Wantai Biological's market cap exceeds 100 billion yuan.
After Zhong's resignation, the Wantai Biological board elected veteran Qiu Zixin as his successor. According to data, Qiu graduated from Xiamen University's chemistry department in 1984 and is one of the founders of Wantai Biological.
Since 1997, Qiu has served as general manager of Wantai Biological, leading the core heavyweight projects jointly developed with Xiamen University. It is understood that Qiu holds 4.38% of Wantai Biological shares, second only to Yangshengtang Co., Ltd. and Zhong Shanshan.
Zhong's sudden resignation caused external shock. Affected by this news, on January 14, Wantai Biological opened lower and closed down nearly 10% at 260 yuan, with a market cap of 112.7 billion yuan, shrinking by over 12 billion yuan. By this calculation, Zhong's personal wealth evaporated by 9 billion yuan.
**-02-****From Bricklayer to Journalist****Making a Fortune from Health Products**
In the late 1980s, the spring breeze of reform blew across the land, and going into business became a trend. The prosperity of the commodity market brought unprecedented novel experiences to the Chinese people and ushered in the first real wave of consumption.
Steve Jobs once said, **'Consumers don't know what they want until we show them our product, and then they realize this is what I want.'**
In that era when consumption concepts were not yet formed, this was indeed the truth.
Among the many business categories, the health products industry stood out as a leader, producing many business geniuses. Looking back at later entrepreneurs, many made their fortunes from health products, such as Zong Qinghou with Wahaha Oral Liquid, Shi Yuzhu with Naobaijin, Zhu Baoguo with Taital Oral Liquid, and also Zhong Shanshan.
In 1954, Zhong Shanshan was born into an intellectual family in Zhuji, Zhejiang. During the Cultural Revolution, his parents were labeled as rightists, and his schooling abruptly ended in the fifth grade. After that, to make a living, Zhong went to Jiaxing to work as a bricklayer, only returning home for the New Year.
This situation lasted for several years until the college entrance examination was restored in 1977. At that time, Zhong's younger sister was preparing for the exam. Zhong, with a literary temperament, also wanted to participate, so he self-studied math, physics, chemistry, and English.
A neighbor remembered that Zhong, holding hot tea, wearing an overcoat and worn cotton shoes, studied diligently day after day, sometimes coming to ask math questions.
He prepared for the exam for two consecutive years but failed both times, though his scores were very close. After failing the exam, Zhong attended an open university. After graduation, his parents were rehabilitated. He first worked at the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, then at 'Jiangnan' magazine and 'Zhejiang Daily', working as a journalist for five years.
Later reports mentioned that during his journalism career, Zhong interviewed 500 entrepreneurs. This journalism experience, combined with Zhejiang's historical business culture, inadvertently pushed Zhong to a new stage in life—going into business.
In 1988, Hainan established a special economic zone, and savvy businessmen began flocking to this hot land. Zhong also came here.
In 1984, 'Oriental Magic Water' Jianlibao was launched to great acclaim. In the following years, health products like Apollo, Wahaha, Sanzhu Oral Liquid, and Naohuangjin appeared one after another. In that golden age of the health products industry, entrants made a fortune.
The year Zhong arrived in Hainan coincided with the launch of Apollo and Wahaha Oral Liquid. Leveraging resources from his journalism career, he secured the general agency for Wahaha in Hainan and Guangxi. The shrewd Zhong discovered that Wahaha's price to Hainan distributors was lower than the market price, and since Hainan and Guangxi were close, he bought goods at low prices in Hainan and sold them in Guangxi, successfully making his first pot of gold.
Unfortunately, Zhong's clever plan didn't last long. After Zong Qinghou discovered it, he removed Zhong from the distributor list.
After being expelled by Wahaha, Zhong's business empire truly began, and his marketing talent shone. In the following decades of business competition, Zhong couldn't avoid Zong Qinghou, and Nongfu Spring couldn't avoid Wahaha. But in recent years, Wahaha has clearly lagged behind, while Zhong, with his companies listed one after another, has become a star entrepreneur.
**-03-****The 'Lone Wolf's' 'Tea Eggs' and 'Atomic Bomb'**
In Zhong's business logic, there is a famous 'tea eggs' and 'atomic bomb' theory.
In his view, brands like Guibie Wan, Nongfu Spring, and Chengzhang Kuaile are just the company's 'tea egg series products'. The real 'atomic bomb' lies in the development potential of biopharmaceutical research, ultimately aiming to achieve the strategic intent of 'supporting the atomic bomb with tea eggs'.
Although Nongfu Spring is just a 'tea egg' in Zhong's mind, it is no less profitable. From 2017 to 2019, Nongfu Spring's revenue was 17.491 billion, 20.475 billion, and 24.021 billion yuan respectively; net profit was 3.386 billion, 3.612 billion, and 4.954 billion yuan. Its market share has been No.1 in China for 8 consecutive years.
**-04-****After Becoming the Richest Man****They Choose to Retire**
**Another person who chose to step back at the peak is a post-80s young man—Pinduoduo's founder Huang Zheng.**
Founded only 5 years ago, Pinduoduo broke the 'two-way split' pattern of e-commerce, becoming a dark horse, especially in 2020. Pinduoduo's rise is evident from its stock price—in 2020, Pinduoduo's stock price was as low as $30.20 and as high as $182.68, with an annual increase of nearly 400%. As of January 14, Beijing time, Pinduoduo's stock price was $161, with a market cap of $197.7 billion.
Pinduoduo's soaring stock price increased Huang Zheng's wealth. In May 2019, the New Fortune 500 Rich List showed Huang Zheng's personal wealth at 76.1 billion yuan, making him Shanghai's richest man.
By June 2020, Huang Zheng's wealth surpassed Ma Yun for the first time, reaching $45.4 billion (about 321 billion yuan), becoming China's second richest man, at just 40 years old.
After five years of entrepreneurship, with wealth quickly surpassing Ma Yun, Huang Zheng immediately found himself at the center of public opinion. At the peak, Huang made a surprising decision—stepping down as CEO on the evening of July 1, 2020. Within less than three months, Huang's shareholding in Pinduoduo decreased by 13.9%, even sacrificing 10.11% of his personal shares for charity and partner plans to quickly shrink his wealth.
Huang Zheng, in the prime of his life, suddenly stepped down as CEO and retreated behind the scenes, leaving a series of question marks. According to the 2020 Forbes China Rich List disclosed in November last year, 40-year-old Huang Zheng's wealth estimate rose from $21.2 billion to $30.6 billion (over 200 billion yuan), retaining the title of richest self-made post-80s entrepreneur.
It is worth noting that even though both Zhong Shanshan and Huang Zheng stepped down from important positions after reaching high wealth, they remain the actual controllers of their companies. As the Wantai Biological board secretary office emphasized—after resigning from all positions, Zhong's status as actual controller remains unchanged.
Huang Zheng is the same. Despite stepping down as CEO, he still serves as chairman of Pinduoduo and remains the actual controller with 80.7% voting rights. Now, with Pinduoduo facing continuous negative news, actual controller Huang Zheng is still pushed to the forefront of public opinion. Pinduoduo's reputation and image in the public opinion arena directly affect its business progress—recently, there are reports that Pinduoduo will no longer be the exclusive red envelope interactive partner for the 2021 Spring Festival Gala, possibly replaced by Douyin.
Now, in the ever-changing business world, more and more founders and second-in-commands of internet companies choose to retire at the peak of personal wealth and company development. They leave quietly, but their legends still circulate in the business world.
Source: Fast Moving Consumer Goods Elite Club, The Paper, Phoenix Weekly Finance, Investment Community
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