--- title: "Zong Qinghou Digs Salt, Red Bull Sells Gasoline? Unveiling the Early Struggles of FMCG Tycoons" description: "The annual wealth rankings parade the billions of entrepreneurs before the public, yet behind their glamour lies untold hardship. This article reveals the early adversities of FMCG moguls like Zong Qinghou, Yan Bin, and Zhong Shanshan, showing that success is never easy and requires perseverance, ambition, and focus." author: "亚桑" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-10-26" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zong-qinghou-digs-salt-red-bull-sells-gasoline-unveiling-the-early-strug-6556a371/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zong-qinghou-digs-salt-red-bull-sells-gasoline-unveiling-the-early-strug-6556a371.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/vf6drlgfOs8kJQ_BVEAh6Q" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%AE%97%E5%BA%86%E5%90%8E%E6%8C%96%E7%9B%90-%E7%BA%A2%E7%89%9B%E5%8D%96%E6%B1%BD%E6%B2%B9-%E6%8F%AD%E7%A7%98%E5%BF%AB%E6%B6%88%E5%A4%A7%E4%BD%AC%E6%97%A9%E5%B9%B4%E7%BB%8F%E5%8E%86-%E5%93%AA%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%AA%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E5%8F%97%E5%B0%BD%E5%86%B7%E9%A3%8E%E5%90%B9-6556a371.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zong-qinghou-digs-salt-red-bull-sells-gasoline-unveiling-the-early-strug-6556a371/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Zong Qinghou Digs Salt, Red Bull Sells Gasoline? Unveiling the Early Struggles of FMCG Tycoons > The annual wealth rankings parade the billions of entrepreneurs before the public, yet behind their glamour lies untold hardship. This article reveals the early adversities of FMCG moguls like Zong Qinghou, Yan Bin, and Zhong Shanshan, showing that success is never easy and requires perseverance, ambition, and focus. Every year, a variety of wealth rankings parade the net worth and annual incomes of business entrepreneurs—often in the hundreds of billions—before the public, stimulating the nerves of onlookers like us. We grumble at these tycoons who seem to dwell in the clouds, lamenting the unfairness of income disparity; yet we continue to accept the status quo, idly dreaming of overnight riches. We refuse to open our eyes and see the unbearable pain and trials that lie behind their enviable glamour. Those who achieve great things often face more trials from fate. Looking at the earliest life experiences of these tycoons, who among us today could endure such hardship and destitution? **1. Zong Qinghou, the "Overlord"** "When all your thoughts converge on one point, a powerful force is born. It brings together connections, money, and everything else." Zong Qinghou, the helm of the Wahaha business empire, whose growth, rise, and lifelong spirit of pragmatism and hard work, can be called a "living fossil" of China's private enterprise sector. What many don't know is that Zong Qinghou's family was once prominent. A descendant of the Song Dynasty general Zong Ze, his grandfather served as finance minister under Zhang Zuolin, and his father held a position in the Nationalist government. However, after liberation, life became extremely impoverished. With a poor family background and an unemployed father, they relied solely on the meager salary of his mother, a primary school teacher. To ease the family burden, Zong Qinghou went to work on a farm right after junior high school. As a passionate teenager, he could only dig, carry, and dry salt in the farm's salt fields, plant tea, harvest rice, and fire kilns in the tea fields... He stayed for 15 years, with only a copy of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" to alleviate his boredom and escape the grim reality. Whether due to his nature or the result of contemplation and tempering, Zong Qinghou displayed a competitive streak while working on the farm. When he couldn't outdo others in hauling stones or moving earth during the day, he would mobilize everyone to work at night, catching up while the others rested. To avoid making noise with the stone carts, they carried them out. His understanding and training in hardship, creativity, diligence, and self-transcendence ran through his entire life. Later, after ten years of wandering, at 42 he started a business peddling ice pops on a tricycle, founded and managed the Wahaha family, and even topped the rich list, yet he remained frugal and plain, wearing 10-yuan cloth shoes and, at 72, still active on the front lines of the market and work. It is said that recently, Wahaha has set its sights on the health products that helped it get started. I think only when Zong Lao can step back and enjoy life can Wahaha be considered a successful transformation! **2. Yan Bin, the "Father of Red Bull"** "I was born in the Year of the Horse, and horses sleep standing up, so I am destined to work hard." This year, the energy drink giant Red Bull has been at the center of public opinion, which has also revealed many untold stories of Yan Bin, the low-key invisible rich man known as the "Father of Red Bull." Born in 1954 into a poor family in Shandong, he was sent to Henan for rural work after junior high school. In this extremely poor place, Yan Bin ate sweet potatoes every day until he saw stars. Once, to show his enthusiasm, he even jumped into the toilet of a "landlord reactionary" to scoop manure, the stench leaving him unable to smell anything for a year. Later, Yan Bin went to Thailand, where he sold blood to survive when he had no money for food. He eventually found his first job doing "manual labor" at a restaurant, with the only requirement being "meals provided." Having been starved, Yan Bin was especially clever and diligent during his apprenticeship. Because the boss's wife was unhappy that he ate three bowls of rice per meal, he bought his own rice and ate it with soy sauce. While his peers dawdled in bed until 8 o'clock, he got up at 5 to clean, all the while listening for the boss's movements upstairs. "The boss would cough at five every day, and I would bring him the spittoon within a minute," Yan Bin recalled. When going out, he used his hand as an ashtray for the boss, even when it blistered, he held on tightly. In this way, after one year, Yan Bin became a manager, while his peers were still eating porridge... Later, Yan Bin introduced Red Bull to China. With no marketing experience and no concept of energy drinks in the domestic market, he spent heavily on a CCTV ad saying, "Cars need fuel, I need Red Bull," which led people to think it was selling gasoline. It wasn't until the later slogan "Drink Red Bull when tired and sleepy" that it became a household name, and remains so today. **3. Zhong Shanshan, the "Lone Wolf"** "I am a loner. I don't care what my peers are doing or thinking. In the business world, there is no mainstream or non-mainstream; results are what matter." Zhong Shanshan, also a Zhejiang businessman, was born into a scholarly family in Hangzhou. His parents were intellectuals who were labeled as rightists during the Cultural Revolution. Zhong Shanshan was forced to drop out in the fifth grade and became a bricklayer and carpenter. When the college entrance examination was restored in 1977, 23-year-old Zhong Shanshan didn't even know basic algebra. He took the exam twice, failing by more than 20 points each time. Following his parents' advice, he attended an open university and later became a journalist in the rural section of Zhejiang Daily. During his five years as a journalist at Zhejiang Daily, Zhong Shanshan visited over 80 counties and cities, interviewing more than 500 entrepreneurs, which not only broadened his horizons but also built connections for his later entrepreneurial ventures. The restless Zhong Shanshan also joined the Hainan gold rush, starting newspapers, growing mushrooms, selling curtains, raising shrimp, and distributing beverages. He went back and forth, earning today and losing tomorrow. Finally, at 40, he seized the opportunity of "turtle and fish health pills," making his first 10 million yuan, then pressed on into the beverage industry, leading to Nongfu Spring. **Revelations** Besides Zong Qinghou, Yan Bin, and Zhong Shanshan mentioned above, the 30 years of China's reform, development, and changing times have also produced a large number of private entrepreneurs with distinct personal characteristics. From the brink of collapse to a turnaround with Brain Gold, Shi Yuzhu; Tao Huabi, who became a national goddess with a bottle of chili sauce; Niu Gensheng, the founder of Mengniu, who went from a cow-raising worker to rocket speed; Liu Qiangdong, who went gray overnight; and Ma Yun, the English teacher who regrets founding Alibaba... None of these wealthy tycoons active in the consumer goods and retail industries became rich overnight. The hardships of entrepreneurship, the cold looks of the world, detours, and low points—who hasn't gone door-to-door selling and faced rejection? Yet they endured sun and rain, wind and storms, and built their businesses solidly, accumulating bit by bit. What supported them through the storms and hardships to achieve today's glory is nothing but **remarkable perseverance, the ambition not to be controlled by fate or yield to hardship, and the focus to seize opportunities and strive for victory in everything**. Tao Huabi said: "From youth to old age, life's path is never smooth. Without weathering wind and rain, one is not an entrepreneur." However, each era and each generation faces different storms and opportunities. In the past, it was a shortage economy; the focus was on filling one's stomach, and if you could get goods, you wouldn't worry about selling them. Now, with changing consumption environments, economic downturn, and industry slump, many distributors and FMCG practitioners, after a few rejections, a few returned goods, and losses of tens of thousands, cry out about the industry's difficulty, complain a lot, and even give up entirely. The threshold for the FMCG industry is low; anyone can enter. But it is also high—**you need to spot opportunities, be diligent, and persist.** Moreover, even the largest companies and most successful distributors have years when goods don't sell and money isn't made. The difference is that after experiencing more, facing more storms, they don't complain to the sky but bury their heads in thought, grit their teeth, and persist, believing there is hope ahead. Coca-Cola, the world's beverage giant, sold only 25 bottles in its first year. Zong Lao, the "overlord" of Wahaha, started selling beverages from a tricycle in his 40s. No one knows if one day you might suddenly start selling beverages; no one knows if one day you might become an overnight sensation and famous. We only know that success is never easy. But why can't it be you on the rich list? Source: Beverage Distributor's Treasure Book (ID: yljxsbd) **2017 (3rd) FMCG + Internet Conference** will be held in Chongqing in November 2017. The conference will closely focus on the theme "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting **1000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions** to jointly explore a new chapter of cross-border integration! Click the link below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: [2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum]() -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. 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