Pronunciation shallown[动]Blink, peep.[形]The glittering look. Xinhua Dictionary

Zhong Yingyi, founder of Yangshengtang, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. and Wantai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., used to work as a reporter for Zhejiang Daily. -- "fixed focus"

Today, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. as of 09:35, the total market capitalization of the company was 426.831 billion Hong Kong dollars (RMB 360.245 billion). With Zhong Kui Wantai's shareholding, he has a wealth of 382.534 billion yuan, or about US $57.38 billion, making him the new "richest man" in China.

Born in a family of intellectuals and growing up in the 1980s when idealism and humanism were intertwined, Zhong Kui bid farewell to his literary career with "going to the sea". At the moment when Internet technology entered China, he chose to start with the traditional way of selling water.

Now that the Internet has changed the former business world beyond recognition, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. and Zhong Jianyu, the "water seller", seem to be proclaiming that the nature of business has never changed.

However, the former "literati" has become blurred.

Waited for 20 years.

According to the prospectus of NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. Co., Ltd., NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. has the largest market share of bottled drinking water in China, with a gross profit margin of more than 50% for three consecutive years and a net profit of more than 20% in 2019. NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's net profit is 4.56 billion a year by selling water.

The prospectus also revealed that NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. had been restructured into a joint stock limited company in June 2001.

In fact, there were a lot of rumors at that time: for example, giants such as Coca-Cola Company and Danone were considering buying NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD., NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. would be listed within a year, and so on.

Zhong Kui is clear in his heart. At that time, his response was that, considering that the company had reached a certain stage of development, the share reform was to "give NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. some capital." In 2000, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. offended almost all enterprises in the drinking water industry because of the "pure water incident", but it was this storm that made NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. naturally create a strong mind with more "nutrition" in mineral water, and the market share continued to rise, and it was not surprising that he was listed on the market.

Another important reason is that the capital markets performed too badly that year. Overseas markets are still far away from most Chinese companies, and A-share listing is almost the only choice.

"seeking to go public now (2002) is a stain on enterprise value," the Shanghai Composite Index has long hovered around 1700 points, with a daily turnover of only a few billion. Zhong said bluntly, "if the time is not right, we will also consider not listing." "

But NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. has been waiting for this for almost 20 years.

The listing has naturally given greater attention to Zhong Jie, the founder who has been called "lone wolf, low-key" by the media. Every time he appears in front of the media camera, his somewhat "stereotyped" dress is impressive. If not for an occasion where a tie is required (such as a business signing ceremony), a gray round-neck sweater (possibly a cashmere sweater) plus a white shirt and iconic glasses outline the classic image of Zhong. "Zhong Kui has no nouveau riche temperament. "

Intellectuals, literati dress up and hot character, inside and outside the circle, he seems to have a sense of dislocation.

"there are two of the most troublesome bosses in the food and beverage industry. One is Zhong Jie, chairman of NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD.. "A corporate partner who worked with NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. once commented on it. Once, he attended an industry meeting with Zhong Kui. "he went up to speak and offended everyone as soon as he opened his mouth. "

Some former subordinates recalled that "if you report to the boss too verbose, you will be scolded." the reporter who interviewed Zhong himself also said that he would not answer your trivial questions.

For all kinds of things in the outside world, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. claimed that he "doesn't care". Over the past few decades, Zhong Kui has survived various "disturbances" and water wars and become the "king of mineral springs." it was the first to bring people back to Zhuji, the county seat of Zhejiang 40 years ago.

All the past events

In early December 1954, Zhong Kui was born in a family of intellectuals in Hangzhou. After her parents mistakenly designated the "Rightists", the whole family was sent back to Zhuji, Shaoxing. The county seat, about 60 kilometers south to Hangzhou, is said to have been the place where Gou Jian, the king of Yue, lived and tried his hardships to restore the country. Locals say that people in Zhuji like to be straightforward, have a "strong" personality, and "like to drink and fight," which is quite different from the impression of people in Jiangnan.

Zhong's attitude, more or less reflects the characteristics of Zhuji people, or some of the will to "bear the brunt of hardship". In the eyes of the locals, he is also a "Hangzhou iron head" and is not afraid of "hurting others." Even in the confrontation of the Beijing Times, he responded to the media, "We never speak softly, even if we are wrong." "

People look back on their childhood all their life. For Zhong Kui and those of that generation, this kind of tribulation, after achieving secular success, may not disappear.

Zhou Jiemei (pseudonym: Mei Zhi), a writer in Zhuji, used to be neighbors with Zhong Jiejie. When the college entrance examination was resumed, Zhong Jieyi and his younger sister Xiaoxiao and Zhou Jiemei were reviewing the exam.

"with a cup of hot tea in his hand, an old coat and a pair of worn cotton-padded shoes, he kicked and stepped on the ground and ran around here," Zhou Jiemei recalled in an article. "sometimes in order to discuss a difficult problem, sometimes he did nothing and just turned around to relieve the tense nerves. ".

The media often label him as a "bricklayer" because he dropped out of school and worked as a migrant worker before he finished primary school (allegedly until the fifth grade and was suspended because of the Cultural Revolution). Little attention was paid to this experience by outsiders, and Zhong himself never talked much about it.

The study was interrupted too early, so that Zhong Kui-hsiang did not even master the basic knowledge of algebra, so it was naturally very difficult to get into college. In the two college entrance examinations, he was more than 20 points short of the enrollment line each time. This did not make Zhong give up the idea of continuing his studies. In 1977, with this "axis" strength, he was admitted to the Chinese Department of Radio and TV University (now Zhejiang Radio and Television University).

"at that time, those who could not be admitted to the university went to RTVU. With the diploma of RTVU, I entered Zhejiang Daily. Thank you to RTVU. As an alumnus of RTVU in the class of 85, Zhong Jie recorded a video message to his alma mater.

It was a magical time. In 1985, Zhang Ruimin smashed 76 substandard Haier refrigerators, Liu Chuanzhi was pondering Ni Guangnan's "Hanka" technology, and Jack Ma was elected president of the student union of Hangzhou normal University.

"ideal" and "humanities" are also two key words that people can easily relate to when they recall the 1980s. After the arrival of a great change, people begin to return to what they once dreamed of but are difficult to reach: perhaps knowledge for the young.

After tossing and turning to work in the Literary Federation and Jiangnan, Zhong Yingyi, a student in the class of 85 of Radio and TV University, joined the Zhejiang Daily, ushering in the first important moment in his life. Today, he says that he still has a "Zhejiang Daily complex". During that time, he provided resources to start his later business. After many years of business, his most frequent contacts were still his friends when he was a journalist.

On January 4, 1985, People's Daily reprinted an article entitled "Why did Hong Mengxue run away?" "the newsletter article has caused a huge impact. In the report, Hong Meng, who taught himself to learn skills, left to join a township enterprise because he was dissatisfied with the restrictions imposed by state-owned units on his personal ability, but was entrusted with an important task.

Many years later, Hong Mengxue and Zhong Kui met in Hainan and co-founded the Health Hall. In the first patent specification of Yangshengtang, Hong Mengxue's name comes before Zhong Mengxue. Thirty years later, Hong Mengxue, an individual who contributed a lot to NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD., died in July 2015. "

And Hong Mengxue's three children, Hong Yi, Hong Weiwei, Hong Weigang, Hong Mengxue's granddaughter and Hong Weigang's daughter, hold shares in NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 0.7467%, 0.7467%, 0.7467% and 0.1409%, respectively.The total shareholding of NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. reached 2.381%.。At the opening price of HK $21.50 per share, it is not difficult to calculate that NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's market capitalization after listing is at least 210 billion yuan.。

Knowledge becomes wealth and is passed on to the next generation.

Literati "go to sea"

Knowledge needs to find an outlet, which is likely to be wealth.

At that time, he even wanted to continue to run a newspaper in Hainan, but did not put it into practice. In 1988, Zhong said goodbye to the institutional work of Zhejiang Daily and took advantage of the development craze in Hainan to "go to sea."

"compared with those grassroots entrepreneursZhong Kui is a literati.. Zhou Weicheng, who once worked in the advertising department of Zhejiang Satellite TV, commented.

But the path of the literati finally gave way to commerce.

In Hainan, Zhong Kui first chose to grow mushrooms, and as a result he lost a lot of money. Later, he became an agent for Wa oral liquid in Guangxi and Hainan. According to the 21st Century Network, he sold the oral liquid at a low price to Zhanjiang City, which was a blank agent at that time. At that time, Wa oral liquid sold well in Guangdong), and had a conflict with Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wa.

Many years later, Zong Qinghou established a beverage empire and became the "richest man" of the generation, and the "water war" between Zong and Zhong also foreshadowed it.

In Hainan, Zhong Kui's real first bucket of gold came from Yangshengtang and its tortoise turtle pill. Perhaps inspired by Hong Mengxue's "self-study" scientific research, the two founders of Yangshengtang produced products through self-developed technology (freezing, dehydrating and powdering whole turtles and turtles at a low temperature with liquid nitrogen). In the era of the prosperity of the market economy and the outbreak of demand for health products, the turtle pill in the health hall has become a "popular style".

How popular was the concept of turtles at that time?

In the 1997 Spring Festival Gala, the line "raise soft-shelled turtle, you cough 50,000 or 60,000 a year" in Zhao Benshan's sketch can prove it. Zhong Kui's judgment on the growth of small businesses isThe type of operation must be unique and profiteering.There is no scale effect for you to accumulate slowly.

In addition, Zhong Kui and Hong Mengxue's respect for knowledge, especially technology, coupled with clever marketing techniques, made them successful. People who had been under Zhong Kui's opponent said, "go to the investment project and go to the scientist. As long as the light is still on after 12:00 every night, no matter who it is, no matter what you are studying, you break in and ask him if he wants money. Give him money. That's how I do it. "

Zhong Kui, the first listed company Wantai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., produced AIDS vaccine, "this is how it came out."

Five months before the 1997 Spring Festival Gala, Nongfu Mountain Hot Spring was officially established, like a farewell to the old times-crazy Hainan real estate, soft-shelled turtle and health products. It is also like a beginning, the dawn of the new economic era has arrived, another Zhejiang native, Ding Lei, founded NetEase, Inc in June of this year; a year later, Tencent was established; another year later, BABA was established; another year later, Baidu, Inc. was established.

At the turn of the millennium, the dotcom bubble burst and then burst. "it must be profiteering", the Internet knows better.

The storm never stops.

"Please do NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. a favor and keep quiet. Standing on the podium with her back to the reporter, Zhong took a sip of water (bottled NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD.), and then repeated this sentence seven or eight times.

NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. held a press conference on May 6, 2013 to respond to the Beijing Times report on NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's water quality standards. About 40 minutes before the beginning of the speech, the reporter sitting under the stage interrupted the clock with a series of questions, and the photographer immediately surrounded and took pictures, and the scene was chaotic.

Since its inception, it seems that none of the reports about Zhong Mengfu or NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. has had as great an impact as the storm in 2013. "this is the only time for the three press conferences to be held in Beijing, hoping to find the truth here. "

The reason is that in the 27 days from April 10 to May 7, the Beijing Times used 67 pages and 76 reports to question that NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's water quality was "not as good as tap water" and did not meet national standards.

NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. responded at the time that local standards were already higher than the reported national standards and that national standards for natural drinking water had not yet been established, with competitors behind the Beijing Times report. The two sides held their own opinions and finally said, "NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. announced his withdrawal from the Beijing market and claimed 60 million yuan from the Beijing Times."

Zhong Kui-Yi still shows a "head iron" personality. The subsequent question and answer session almost turned into a confrontation between Zhong and a reporter from the Beijing Times, making it almost impossible for other media to get a word in.

NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. will never bow to the violence of public opinion, nor will he lose face for his dignity. "

Four years ago, the Provincial Bureau of Industry and Commerce also experienced a storm in Hainan, the birthplace of Zhong Kui, but from the Baidu, Inc. index, this time basically did not bring sequelae to NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's brand.

In early December 2009, the Hainan Provincial Bureau of Industry and Commerce issued an inspection report that NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's "water-soluble C100" products did not meet industry standards in terms of quality.

It was followed by round after round of debate until NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's product was proved to be "qualified".

With the continuous storm, NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. has become the number one market share in the bottled water industry this year, and no one is wondering whether the "national standard" or "Zhejiang standard" is important in the 2013 storm.

It was not until 2017 that the "standoff" finally came to an end. On June 22, the Beijing Times announced the closure of its publication.。

"the outcome has been divided," but Zhong expressed his disappointment at the result. "Why don't you give us compensation?" "

The Silent Lamb

For NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD., winning or losing is outside the industry.。

Since 2012, a force outside the consumer goods and water industry has also been growing crazily.

After two years of establishment and an iteration, Lei Jun launched XIAOMI 1s and 2 in 2012. The 1999 yuan phone was later regarded as the flashpoint of XIAOMI, and then triggered a large-scale replacement wave, resulting in the birth of "a prefix". It also launched Chinese smartphones andMobile InternetThe age of.

Also in 2012, Wechat had more than 200m registered users; by the end of that year, Wechat had 270 million registered users. From today's point of view, the two companies, which were founded only a year or two later in NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD., have become the "rulers" of the mobile Internet era.

Mobile Internet giants steadily occupy the dividend of traffic and the voice of the times, and the business models established by traditional enterprises have been gradually disintegrated, especially those fast-consuming enterprises that rely on channel advantages and focus on advertising.

The rise of e-commerce and the dispersion of traffic platforms pose a threat to traditional FMCG.

Ma Dong, founder of Miwei Media, points out the side of this change: since ancient times, the right to speak has been in the hands of a small number of people, while the Internet has given everyone a chance to express their ideas. NONGFU SPRING CO., LTD. 's brand was established at the end of the "5% era".

This decentralized expression results in the dispersion of flow and channels. At one time, "Internet thinking" was regarded as "knowing" and "must-learn" in the industry.

Zhong Kui was a little disdainful of this. In 2013, Zhong gave a speech on Communication University Of China. Subsequently, accept "Caixin" interview, talk about the competition of traditional enterprises, Internet enterprises.

"traditional enterprises are like silent lambs. He said that China's traditional enterprises have been neglected for a long time, and it is precisely the accumulation of traditional enterprises over the past few decades that have created the soil for the development of today's prosperous consumer society and Internet enterprises.

"in an environment that supports e-commerce, the monopoly profits of e-commerce enterprises are maintained with the losses and small profits of thousands of traditional enterprises. The e-commerce price war, which is lower than the production and operating cost, has seriously hurt China's economy-because it hinders the process of upgrading the product itself. "this is what Zhong Jie-fu said of e-commerce.

Even so, he has never lowered his respect for and emphasis on "knowledge" and believes that the way out for traditional enterprises lies in their own learning ability.

"now, the whole human knowledge is exploding, and the whole field of knowledge is subdivided. The knowledge owned by a single individual and enterprise accounts for a smaller and smaller proportion in the total human knowledge base, so it is very necessary for traditional enterprises to prepare new knowledge systems. "

Since his youth, Zhong has been pursuing the power of "knowledge". Over the past 20 years, the nature of knowledge does not seem to have changed, but in different ways.

At the end of the movie "the Big short," Dr. Burry, who successfully shorted subprime loans and made a lot of money, wanted to tell the world the secret he had discovered, but no institution on Wall Street chose to believe his advice. Disappointed, he chose to turn away from the financial industry and invest in only one product: water.

"as a person, I don't like flattery, and I don't drink or eat with people. "he has always wanted to face the problem directly.