The Economist.
When Zong Qinghou died in early 2024, he left behind one of China's most iconic beverage brands.
What he didn't leave was a clear plan for what came next.
His daughter, Zong Fuli, inherited both the company and the chaos:
secret heirs, a trademark battle and other business controversies.
Critics are asking whether she's losing the empire her father built.
But for China, the Wahaha scandal is raising even bigger questions.
In the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping opened the Chinese economy and famously declared,
"Let some people get rich first" as a step towards common prosperity.
Half a century later, those early entrepreneurs are beginning to pass
their huge fortunes on to the next generation.
And the country, which has no inheritance tax, is reckoning with an unprecedented wealth transfer
that could entrench inequality for generations to come.
So what does this great wealth transfer mean for China?
And can it honor the promise of common prosperity
to avoid a new era of silver spoons and dim dreams?
I'm Sarah Wu, the Economist's China correspondent, based in Beijing.
I'm Jiahao Chen, our China researcher, based in London.
And this is Drum Tower from The Economist.
Hey Sarah.