Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring Co., a bottled water company, is the third richest person with $53.7 billion in China's 400 Richest 2020 by Forbes China, following Alibaba's co-founder Jack Ma and Tencent founder Pony Ma.
Zhong, 66, worked as a construction worker, a newspaper reporter and a beverage sales agent before starting his own business. In 1996 he set up Nongfu Spring in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, east China. The company has grown into China's largest packaged water supplier and one of the top 20 beverage companies in China today, holding the No.1 spot in market share. Zhong owns 84.4 percent of Nongfu's shares. In September 2020, the company started trading on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
