Commentary: Wahaha Billionaire’s Legacy of Broken Contracts

A year after the death of Zong Qinghou — long regarded as “a grassroots billionaire, a devoted husband, and a nationalist entrepreneur” — his myth has suddenly collapsed. Revelations over unacknowledged children have done more than trigger a redistribution of family assets. Combined with the company’s tangled history with state-owned shareholders and questions about offshore funds, the affair has become an object of intense public fascination.