Zhang Yudong, reportedly a Chinese multimillionaire, kept his vast wealth unknown to his son for nearly 20 years. Noted by the South China Morning Post, Zhang Yudong is the founder and president of a popular Hunan spicy gluten snack brand called Mala Prince, reporting nearly Rs 692 crore in annual revenue. Despite his successes, he lived in simple style while raising his son in a simple apartment. Zhang Zilong, interviewed by Jiupai News, said he knew about the brand his father had but was always told that his family owed much money to keep things going.
Zilong, who grew up in a "normal flat" in Pingjiang county, was admitted to a good school without family connections; now he is about to begin an old stable job that earns 6,000 yuan (US$800) per month to help contribute to the family budget, and thought they needed him for the money, when his dad finally broke the news of their wealth.
His father then told him that he had been keeping the wealth away due to the reason that he wanted Zilong to really work hard to reap the fruits of his success. After this revelation, the family moved into a newly built villa worth 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million). Zilong now is dead set on helping take the business public and internationalize markets as works in the e-commerce department of his father's company. But Zhang Yudong said he will transfer the leadership of the company to his son only if the efforts of Zilong prove his worthiness.
