- China’s bottled water king argues digital platforms have become powerful gatekeepers controlling prices and traffic
- His criticism reflects a broader debate over platform economics, industrial upgrading and the future of traditional businesses
Zhong Shanshan (钟睒睒), founder of Nongfu Spring and China’s second-richest person, has reignited his criticism of e-commerce platforms in a recent TV show, arguing that companies built on the promise of eliminating middlemen have themselves become more powerful intermediaries.
Appearing on CCTV Finance’s Dialogue program on August 8, Zhong said digital platforms now control two of the most important elements in commerce — pricing power and consumer traffic allocation.
“The real trading platforms should have transparent and stable fee structures,” Zhong argued. In his view, platforms that can adjust fees, rankings and exposure for individual transactions effectively function as “100% middlemen.”
He called for stronger restrictions on platform power, saying that e-commerce giants have displaced traditional retailers while creating a new layer of dependence for merchants.
According to the Hurun Rich List, Zhong had a personal net worth of 515 billion yuan ($76 billion) as of March 2026, making him China’s second-richest person behind ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, whose fortune stood at 550 billion yuan.
From eliminating middlemen to becoming one
Zhong’s argument challenges one of the original promises of e-commerce: that digital platforms would reduce transaction costs by directly connecting producers and consumers.
Instead, he believes platforms have evolved into dominant gatekeepers that decide which products gain visibility and how much sellers must pay for access to consumers.
He also criticized the social impact of platform-driven consumption, arguing that online shopping has weakened offline retail, reduced spontaneous consumption experiences and confined younger consumers to mobile screens.
This is not Zhong’s first public criticism of e-commerce platforms. In effect, he has built a reputation in recent years as one of China’s most prominent public figures and business leaders to rail against e-commerce platforms, unleashing a barrage of attacks against players such as Alibaba’s Taobao, JD.com and, most notably, Pinduoduo.
In November 2024, he criticized certain online pricing practices as harmful to Chinese brands and manufacturers, while saying he would “never do livestream selling.”
His remark was widely interpreted as criticism of the low-price competition model popularized by some platforms.
Zhong later described major e-commerce platforms as a “meat grinder” for the Chinese economy and argued that traditional industries and small businesses were increasingly working for internet platforms.
Quality over price wars
Despite intensifying competition in consumer sectors, Zhong said he was not concerned about the rise of new tea brands or frequent product launches.
His focus, he said, should be on quality rather than endless price competition.
“China’s biggest concern today is competing on prices rather than quality, craftsmanship and premium value,” Zhong said.
The comments came as Nongfu Spring expands into agricultural production through a roughly 300 million yuan investment in a modern jasmine flower industrial base in Hengzhou, Guangxi.
Betting on agriculture, not algorithms
China produces more than half of the world’s jasmine flowers, yet the industry has long struggled with low value-added production and limited technological upgrading.
Zhong’s strategy is to bring industrial management methods into agriculture — improving everything from harvesting schedules and processing techniques to quality standards and pricing mechanisms.
He said Nongfu Spring would support farmers by providing price guarantees, including subsidies when flower prices fall below certain levels.
“We go to a place to raise prices, not lower them,” he said.
For Zhong, the issue goes beyond a single industry. He argued that China, despite having one of the world’s deepest agricultural traditions, has not given enough recognition to farming communities.
A broader industrial debate
Zhong’s comments highlight a growing tension in China’s economy: while digital platforms have created enormous efficiency gains, they have also concentrated market power in the hands of a few technology companies.
His long-standing criticism of e-commerce platforms, support for farmers and investment in agricultural supply chains mirror a broader view among some traditional industrial entrepreneurs.
According to them, economic value should not be created only through algorithms, traffic and price competition, but also through manufacturing, quality improvement and real-world production.
For global observers, Zhong’s remarks offer a window into an ongoing debate in China and elsewhere — how to balance the efficiency of digital platforms with the need to protect producers, small businesses and long-term industrial development.
