Not Chinese enough? Bottled water empire of China’s richest man is facing a nationalist boycott

Zhong Shanshan, China’s richest man, is facing a wave of attacks from nationalists who accuse him of a lack of patriotism in a campaign that has hit the price of shares in his beverage company and threatens to hurt its sales.

Zhong Shanshan, China’s richest man, is facing a wave of attacks from nationalists who accuse him of a lack of patriotism in a campaign that has hit the price of shares of his beverage company and threatens to hurt its sales. Zhong and his drinks firm Nongfu Spring, the country’s biggest maker of bottled water, are the latest targets of an army of internet zealots. Calls for a boycott of Nongfu have even alarmed typically patriotic state media outlets at a time when Beijing is trying to rally support behind private businesses to help counter an economic slump. The criticism was triggered by the death last month of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group, one of Nongfu’s biggest competitors. Zong was a revered nationalist figure who famously took on French food company Danone in a business dispute about 20 years ago, and won. His passing sparked unflattering comparisons to Zhong and snowballed into attacks on everything from perceived Japanese elements in the packaging of Nongfu Spring products to the American citizenship held by Zhong’s son — a non-executive director of the company and possible successor to take over the business. “Zhong Shuzi will inherit his father’s huge assets. But as the future richest man in China, he is an American national. It’s unbelievable,” said a Weibo user with the name “Internationale.” Online critics have compared carp-shaped designs on the label of Nongfu Spring’s brown rice tea drink to Japan’s traditional carp flag koinobori windsocks. They have also circulated photos and videos online linking a temple featured on the label of one of its green tea drinks to Tokyo’s Sensoji.