---
title: "He Sold Mineral Water to No.1 Nationwide and Invested in R&D of the First Domestic Cervical Cancer Vaccine - Unbelievable"
description: "On December 31, 2019, the National Medical Products Administration approved the listing application of the bivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (trade name: Cecolin) developed by Xiamen Wantai Canghai Biotechnology Co., Ltd., making it the first domestically produced HPV vaccine approved in China, applicable to women aged 9-45. The approval breaks the foreign monopoly and ensures sufficient vaccine supply, with a significantly lower price compared to imported vaccines."
author: "冯仑风马牛"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2020-01-09"
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citation: "冯仑风马牛. “He Sold Mineral Water to No.1 Nationwide and Invested in R&D of the First Domestic Cervical Cancer Vaccine - Unbelievable.” New Distribution, 2020-01-09. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/he-sold-mineral-water-to-no-1-nationwide-and-invested-in-r-d-of-the-firs-cb60965d/"
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# He Sold Mineral Water to No.1 Nationwide and Invested in R&D of the First Domestic Cervical Cancer Vaccine - Unbelievable

> On December 31, 2019, the National Medical Products Administration approved the listing application of the bivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (trade name: Cecolin) developed by Xiamen Wantai Canghai Biotechnology Co., Ltd., making it the first domestically produced HPV vaccine approved in China, applicable to women aged 9-45. The approval breaks the foreign monopoly and ensures sufficient vaccine supply, with a significantly lower price compared to imported vaccines.

On December 31, 2019, the National Medical Products Administration approved the listing application of the bivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (trade name: Cecolin) from Xiamen Wantai Canghai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. **This drug is the first domestically produced HPV vaccine approved in China**, applicable to women aged 9-45.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, commonly known as cervical cancer vaccine, is used to prevent cervical cancer in women, genital cancers in both men and women, and genital warts. Currently, there are three manufacturers of HPV vaccines globally: GlaxoSmithKline (UK), Merck (US), and the newly approved Xiamen Wantai Canghai.

Zhang Jun, deputy dean of the School of Public Health at Xiamen University, introduced that **the approval and launch of the domestic HPV vaccine breaks the foreign monopoly and ensures sufficient vaccine supply. Compared with imported vaccines, the price of the domestic recombinant HPV vaccine will also be significantly lower.** The launch of the domestic vaccine also makes the basic elimination of cervical cancer more feasible.

According to public information, Xiamen Wantai Canghai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd., whose controlling shareholder is Yangshengtang, the parent company of Nongfu Spring. The actual controller of Yangshengtang is **Zhong Shanshan**. Some netizens commented: **"Unexpectedly, a company selling water like Nongfu Spring has such powerful and advanced high-tech, amazing!"**

Zhong Shanshan

Yangshengtang is an investment company mainly focused on the health industry. Its main investment directions include drinking water and beverages, health and wellness food, biomedicine, and modern agriculture.

Besides the familiar "Nongfu Spring," many other famous brands created by Zhong Shanshan include Guibie Wan (turtle pill), Duo'er capsules, adult multivitamin series, Mother's beef jerky, Oriental Leaf tea drinks, Nongfu Orchard juice drinks, Scream emotional drinks, and Water-soluble C100.

For a long time, **Zhong Shanshan has been regarded as the most marketing-savvy entrepreneur in the business world**. If he doesn't want to talk, it's hard for reporters to extract information from him, but when he does talk, it's usually explosive news. Along the way, Zhong Shanshan has encountered many difficulties and hardships that ordinary people can hardly imagine. Low-key and mysterious, he often fights against a group of people alone, and the media has dubbed him the "**lone wolf**," saying he is aloof and solitary. Zhong Shanshan doesn't mind this nickname.

In an interview, he said, **"Many people think I'm unsociable. I am indeed quite arrogant. I generally don't talk much with people I can't see eye to eye with. But I don't think I'm lonely. I have my circle, my lifestyle, and my group of friends. This is determined by one's personality. There's no right or wrong, only fit or not fit."**

**-01-**

People familiar with Zhong Shanshan describe him with phrases like "a Zhuji native, plus a stubborn Hangzhou person." **His fiery temper, stubbornness, and arrogance are "traits flowing in his blood."**

In 1954, Zhong Shanshan was born into an intellectual family in Zhejiang. When he was in elementary school, his parents were labeled as rightists, and Zhong Shanshan was forced to drop out of school. After that, he moved alone between Jiaxing, Shaoxing, and other places, learning to be a bricklayer and carpenter, enduring great hardships.

In 1977, after the college entrance examination was restored, Zhong Shanshan, who had done hard labor for over a decade, suddenly decided to take the exam. He worked hard for two years but ultimately failed. Fortunately, at that time, his family was rehabilitated. After several twists and turns, Zhong Shanshan went to Zhejiang Daily and worked as a journalist in rural areas for 5 years.

His journalism career not only broadened his horizons but also accumulated many resources for him. Even his later business partners were met during his early interviews.

In 1988, the state officially approved the establishment of the Hainan Special Economic Zone. Many young people went to Hainan to seek fortunes. Zhong Shanshan also resigned from Zhejiang Daily and rushed to Hainan, beginning his journey as a businessman.

In a letter, Zhong Shanshan wrote: **"I used to be too pitiful, pitying my inexplicable self-esteem and aloofness, looking down on all businessmen. That was too shallow. The capable among businessmen are the truly strong; the capable among literati are only half strong."**

After arriving in Hainan, Zhong Shanshan initially wanted to start a private newspaper, but at that time, newspapers were still a forbidden area, so he set up a mushroom cultivation company in Hainan. However, the business quickly failed, leaving him in debt. **But even then, Zhong Shanshan never owed a penny to the farmers who helped him grow mushrooms.** After that, he rebuilt his wealth through street vending and selling curtains.

In 1991, Zhong Shanshan became the general agent for Wahaha in Guangxi and Hainan, and his career gradually got on track. What truly made Zhong Shanshan soar was the later famous "Yangshengtang Turtle Pill."

The 1990s were the golden age of health products in China, with a low-threshold, high-profit market full of competition. At that time, Zhong Shanshan discovered that drinking a health soup made from turtles was popular in Hainan. With his keen business sense, he founded Yangshengtang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Hainan in 1993.

**Zhong Shanshan became famous with the Yangshengtang Turtle Pill, earning his first real pot of gold in life.** The reasons were, on one hand, his marketing skills; on the other hand, he always focused on one point: products must be better than competitors. Subsequently, in 1996, Zhong Shanshan founded Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd. **Since 2011, Nongfu Spring's natural water market share has ranked first nationwide and has maintained that position to this day.**

Today, Zhong Shanshan's business spans many fields, including drinking water and beverages, modern agriculture, food, health products, cosmetics, biopharmaceuticals, and information technology. On the 2019 Forbes China Rich List, Zhong Shanshan ranked 186th with a fortune of 13.79 billion yuan.

**-02-**

Short film shot by Nongfu Spring

For a long time, Zhong Shanshan has been regarded as the most marketing-savvy entrepreneur in the business world. He has created multiple well-known brands throughout his life and was jokingly called by famous brand strategy expert Li Guangdou as **the boss most capable of "giving birth" among Chinese entrepreneurs**. He Boquan, founder of Robust, also said he admires Nongfu Spring's wisdom in corporate marketing planning.

It cannot be denied that every brand created by Zhong Shanshan has its own power. He often breaks away from product attribute constraints, **seeking consumer resonance through unique emotional and conceptual planning.** He has a talent for studying "fame." Zhong Shanshan is not only skilled in advertising, brand positioning, and image communication, but also always enhances product visibility through innovation.

As a former journalist, he understands "attention economy" far better than many entrepreneurs. **Zhong Shanshan believes in two logics: "An enterprise that doesn't hype is a mummy" and "The best marketing is event marketing." He believes that creating events and seizing events will seize everything.**

Take Nongfu Spring as an example. There are three textbook-level slogans that are deeply rooted in people's minds: "Nongfu Spring is a little sweet; We don't produce water, we are just nature's porters; What kind of water source nurtures what kind of life."

Regarding Nongfu Spring's advertising strategy, Zhong Shanshan said: Advertising itself is a long-term reflection on the product. **Advertising is not thought up; you must have your concept before making the product, and then you can create a good advertisement.** This is why Nongfu Spring's products and advertisements are connected. The gene is already there before the product begins, and the product's life is already in the blood. This is the company's culture.

Of course, Zhong Shanshan also emphasized that "hype is a double-edged sword." He said: In the process of hype, enterprises should keep a clear head, **use business wisdom for self-promotion, not exaggeration or showmanship. Excessive or malicious hype will bring trouble.** After gaining huge attention through hype, **internalizing that attention into recognition of the corporate brand, values, and spirit, and achieving the transformation from popularity to reputation, is the ultimate goal of hype.**

Additionally, Zhong Shanshan believes that no one in the world can say that good advertising alone can sell products. **The product itself is the only "trump card" that determines the market.** "Packaging a concept to sell high-profit but actually ineffective products is not what Nongfu Spring does. Without a good product, the more you market, the faster you die. The success of any marketing activity must be backed by the product," Zhong Shanshan said.

The most powerful card in Zhong Shanshan's hand is the "Yangshengtang Natural Medicine Research Institute." He once said internally: **The Yangshengtang Natural Medicine Research Institute is the core of our group, the company's direction, future, goal, and even driving force. Because we hope to produce not only tangible products but also intangible products here—knowledge. The speed of knowledge generation and the speed of talent aggregation must be proportional.**

According to public information, the Yangshengtang Natural Medicine Research Institute holds multiple patents in various fields, including research and development, testing, technology transfer, and technical consulting in pharmaceuticals, health products, beverages, food, packaging materials, and cosmetics.

It is these research results that support the birth of almost all products of "Yangshengtang" and "Nongfu Spring," while also creating a batch of world-class innovative products.

When a reporter asked how to balance research investment and profitability, Zhong Shanshan said: "I neither manage finances nor understand finance. I don't know how much money there is, nor how to invest. I'm like a bank. Whoever does well, **whoever has a higher knowledge generation rate, I give to them.** Internally, we don't focus on which product line has higher profits.

**The ideology we advocate is freedom, openness, equality, respect, and daring to question. We must question the so-called knowledge left by humanity in the past. All knowledge must be re-examined and reviewed. We must dare to challenge authority.** If research is richer and accumulation is richer, then your profits will definitely rise."

It is also worth mentioning that Zhong Shanshan does not set sales targets. **He believes that companies that put sales first are destined to be short-lived.**

In Zhong Shanshan's view, **any product requires knowledge accumulation. Throwing money around is foolish.** He welcomes competition, but the competition should be in product research, not just having an extra brand on the shelf.

In an interview a few years ago, Zhong Shanshan lamented: "Over the past two hundred years, what responsibility have Chinese entrepreneurs shouldered? **We must create products and use our products to tell society our cognition and our ideals.** You should calm down and research. But those who research products have almost all become poor because our industrial orientation has problems.

Look, in the past decade, 90% of entrepreneurs have gone into real estate. Because that place can make you rich overnight, because that place transfers the stock assets of land to certain individuals through state means. Capital is bloody; the flow of capital always goes to that depression. This bubble has caused considerable consequences for China's future economy.

**Originally, we should have spent this decade diligently researching products, competition, and technology. However, most of our entrepreneurs gave up that enthusiasm and went to study real estate."**

**-03-**

Yangshengtang Group R&D Building

Many entrepreneurs tend to hide their true personalities at appropriate times, but the low-key Zhong Shanshan is a "**fighter**" with a particularly stubborn and tough temper. If he doesn't want to say something, no one can force him, and once he speaks, it's usually explosive news.

**Zhong Shanshan is somewhat arrogant. Once he decides something, he won't compromise. He never says soft words, nor does he fear telling the truth and offending people, nor does he fear the resulting controversy.** In his life dictionary, there are only "yes" and "no."

According to a senior executive of Yangshengtang, Zhong Shanshan once said a tough phrase: "**In peacetime, men have no wars to fight; only in business wars is there some excitement.**" Zhong Shanshan has sparked several large-scale "water wars" and once became the industry's "**public enemy**." He has also publicly challenged the media and experts, earning the nickname "**lone wolf**." Despite this, Zhong Shanshan never shows signs of burden or pressure; instead, he enjoys it.

Zhong Shanshan, fighting alone, appears quite unconventional, with a bit of a "**seeking defeat in loneliness**" flavor. He said, "In a commercial society, there is no need for mainstream or non-mainstream; results matter most. Many people think I'm unsociable. I am indeed quite arrogant. I generally don't talk much with people I can't see eye to eye with. But I don't think I'm lonely. I have my circle, my lifestyle, and my group of friends. This is determined by one's personality. There's no right or wrong, only fit or not fit." In an exclusive interview with CCTV's "Dialogue," Zhong Shanshan himself admitted that his bad temper and poor listening skills are his shortcomings.

According to friends of Zhong Shanshan, he is a somewhat heroic figure, straightforward, with very strong self-will. **His stubbornness in his bones and his emphasis on knowledge are probably related to his literary background.**

Zhong Shanshan doesn't like to build connections and rarely socializes. He lives a very simple life, often staying in his office working and reading until late at night. Zhong Shanshan once told his subordinates: **When you look for investment projects, only look for scientists, only those whose lights are still on after 12 a.m. every night.** No matter who they are or what project they are researching, go in and directly ask if they need money, give them money, and invite them to cooperate.

Of course, the "tough guy" also has a tender and fragile side. When the Wenchuan earthquake occurred, Zhong Shanshan rushed to the front line immediately. At that time, he stayed in Wenchuan for 8 days and 9 nights, organizing the shipment of over 160 train cars of Nongfu Spring drinking water for the disaster area.

After returning, at the airport, **Zhong Shanshan, who usually shows a cold demeanor, burst into tears.** He refused all interviews about earthquake relief and repeatedly urged: **Do not choose photos with Nongfu Spring products in the pictures released about the disaster area. Never leave an impression of a publicity stunt.**

Similarly, on December 8, 2016, at the launch of Nongfu Spring's 17.5° oranges, when talking about the difficulty of increasing income for several generations of Gannan orange farmers, the unruly Zhong Shanshan rarely shed tears again, choking up and wiping tears with a tissue. That day, the theme of Zhong Shanshan's speech at the launch was "If Farmers Are Rich, China Is Strong." **He said he was once a farmer himself, and Chinese farmers are the most simple and most in need of care. "We owe farmers too much."**

Since going to Hainan, Zhong Shanshan has been an entrepreneur for thirty years, forming his own school in the industry. Behind the glamour, he has endured grievances that ordinary people can hardly imagine and experienced hardships that many have never gone through.

Zhong Shanshan said: **Since starting my business, I have taken many detours, almost like surviving nine deaths. Because you have to walk a path that no one has walked before, you can't avoid grievances. I have been at a disadvantage since the first day of starting my business because there are always places where knowledge cannot reach, and there are always flaws.**

**-04-**

Zhong Shanshan

In that era of great ups and downs, many people lost their direction for the future. Not many well-known entrepreneurs could laugh to the end, and Zhong Shanshan is one of them.

Regarding the factors of success, Zhong Shanshan said: **Many businessmen first consider "how much money I want to make." My first consideration is whether the product I make can be improved by one step.** As long as the product can serve consumers, it will definitely get consumers' rewards. Having consumers means the enterprise has the foundation for survival and development. This is "**putting others before oneself**."

Zhong Shanshan believes that **entrepreneurs must understand history, learn from it, calm down, and not be so impetuous.** He believes that the civilization of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods still stands at the world's peak today, mainly because it was an era of free speech and a hundred flowers blooming.

**Zhong Shanshan hopes that any enterprise or entrepreneur should first accumulate knowledge.** If this knowledge is a problem that humanity has not yet solved, he believes you can succeed.

Zhong Shanshan feels: **Human progress is a process of continuous innovation, and the cost and resistance of innovation are oneself.** Innovation requires two things: money and time. Without the accumulation of time, it cannot become a classic. **If the younger generation is willing to quietly do one thing, their abilities far exceed ours.**

In the past, the "arrogant" Zhong Shanshan joked that he was a seller of "**tea eggs**" and a maker of "**atomic bombs**." He called many famous products like "Nongfu Spring" and "Turtle Pill" "tea eggs," while many secret weapons retained by Yangshengtang, such as drugs under development and top scientific achievements, were regarded as "atomic bombs." **Now, with the approval of the first domestic cervical cancer vaccine, Zhong Shanshan's "atomic bomb" era has just begun, and the future will be very exciting.**

At the beginning of his business career, Zhong Shanshan said: **Money, just money, is not enough. My goals are much higher.** Zhong Shanshan is definitely an entrepreneur underestimated by many.

Source: Feng Lun Feng Ma Niu (ID: fengluntalk)

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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 冯仑风马牛
- Published: 2020-01-09
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- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zJeJl-LLK0JmsqWnqZa2mw

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