China’s beverage giant Wahaha heiress Kelly Zong Fuli is moving to sideline Du Jianying, mother of her alleged half-siblings, as a bitter inheritance fight unfolds with pending lawsuits.
Kelly Zong, long marketed as the only child of Wahaha’s late founder Zong Qinghou, has moved quickly to consolidate control since the senior Zong’s death in 2024. Currently the chairwoman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, Kelly Zong shut down more than 15 factories historically tied to Du, including a plant in Shaanxi where Du held a majority stake.
At the same time, Kelly Zong’s holding company is investing 1 billion yuan (HK$1.1 billion) in a new 80,000-square-meter Xi’an production base for bottled water, tea, coffee, juice, and dairy drinks—signaling her determination to dominate the northwest China market that Du once oversaw, according to mainland media.
Du, a former Wahaha employee who was considered one of the late founder’s key aides in the company, left the beverage in the 2010s but retained control of many factories of Wahaha through offshore entities.
The battle has also spilled online. Wahaha’s original Tmall flagship store, previously associated with Du, was quietly renamed under her company, while Kelly Zong launched her own rival flagship store through one of her firms.
Kelly Zong also attempted to shift 387 Wahaha trademarks into her entities but was blocked by state-owned shareholders, leading her to register new labels such as “Wawa Xiaoha” and “Zong Xiaoha” to cement her personal brand over Wahaha’s legacy identity.
Du is said to be the mother of Jacky Zong, Jessie Zong and Jerry Zong – the three claiming to be Kelly Zong’s half-siblings filed a lawsuit in a Hangzhou court against Kelly Zong.
The alleged half-siblings claimed interests in trusts valued at US$700 million (HK$5.46 billion) each, which their father, Zong Qinghou, promised to set up during his lifetime.
Earlier, a Hong Kong court froze US$1.8 billion in an account of Kelly Zong pending resolution.
The legal uncertainty has raised questions over Wahaha’s future, especially as the Hangzhou government—keen to preserve stability at a company employing tens of thousands—has leaned toward supporting Kelly Zong’s leadership.
The Hangzhou government has set up a task force for intervention, saying that it was “eager to solve the issue as soon as possible.”
A subsidiary of the Shangcheng District Finance Bureau in Hangzhou holds a 46 percent stake in Hangzhou Wahaha Group, followed by Kelly Zong's 29.4 percent stake and the staff union’s remaining 24.6 percent.
