Zhong Shanshan

Zhong Shanshan — founder profiled in the Chinese Founder Ledger — is documented as follows: former journalist and Cultural Revolution-era construction laborer who founded bottled-water company Nongfu Spring in 1996 and built it into China's largest bottled-water maker, and was re-appointed chairman of its ninth board of directors effective May 19, 2026. The profile is grounded in the 2 sources indexed for this founder.

Zhong Shanshan's role is documented as: founder and Chairman, Nongfu Spring; also majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Confirmed re-appointed as chairman effective May 19, 2026, for a three-year board term, per a company disclosure reported by Moomoo/Zhitong Finance (research date: 2026-08-23).

Zhong Shanshan's Nongfu Spring zhong is chairman of Nongfu Spring, a bottled water company. had revenue of 52.6 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in 2025. major shareholder of Beijing Wantai .

Zhong Shanshan's Nongfu Spring the net worth of Zhong Shanshan, the actual controller and chairman of Nongfu Spring, soared accordingly, making him China's new richest person.

Zhong Shanshan's Nongfu Spring is the founder and chairman of Nongfu Spring, Zhong also controls Wantai Biological, which makes rapid diagnostic tests for infectious diseases .

Zhong Shanshan's Nongfu Spring sep 24, 2020 · Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan had a paper net worth of $57.2 billion, to become China's wealthiest man on paper, Forbes.

Zhong dropped out of primary school during the Cultural Revolution and worked in construction, later became a journalist at the Zhejiang Daily, quit in 1988 to move to Hainan where he sold mushrooms, prawns, and turtles, and worked as a sales agent at the Wahaha beverage company before founding his own bottled-water company.

In 1999, Nongfu Spring stopped removing natural minerals from its water, a marketing move that helped differentiate it in a market where distilled water was the norm, and helped the company grow into China's largest bottled-water maker, surpassing Coca-Cola, Watsons, and Pepsi in packaged beverage sales in China.

As of 2025, Zhong had a net worth of $77.5 billion and ranked among the top 25 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, derived mainly from his stakes in the Chinese beverage and pharmaceutical industries (including majority ownership of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise).

Nongfu Spring grew into China's largest bottled-water maker and one of the world's largest beverage companies; Zhong's net worth reached an estimated $77.5 billion as of 2025.