Zong Fuli [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

On Dec 9, Zong Fuli, daughter of the founder and chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, was appointed vice chairman and general manager of the Chinese beverage giant in a move widely seen as a precursor to succeeding her father.

The 39-year-old Zong Fuli will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company, while her father, 76-year-old Zong Qinghou, will remain chairman.

Zong Fuli majored in international business at Pepperdine University in California and immediately started working at Hangzhou Wahaha Group in Hangzhou upon graduating in 2004.

The succession of so-called second-generation rich among privately owned companies has become a heated topic in Zhejiang in recent years.

In September, Wensli, a leading silk garment manufacturer based in Hangzhou, completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the ChiNext market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Tu Hongyan, the current chair of Wensli Group who succeeded her mother Shen Aiqin, founder of the company, has realized Shen's unfulfilled dream of an IPO.

In 2019, Hu Yuhuang, then 35 years old, succeeded his father Hu Chengzhong to become president of Delixi Group, an electrical engineering giant. Hu Yuhuang studied economics at the University of Leeds in Britain and had been president of Delixi's Hangzhou subsidiary since 2013.

Lu Guanqiu, the iconic entrepreneur from Zhejiang who founded Wanxiang Group, China's largest automotive parts company, died in October 2017 at the age of 72. His son Lu Weiding became president of Wanxiang Group at the age of 23 in 1994 and has now finally been elected chairman of the group.