choose between love and bread?
This is an eternal question.
There are those who choose love, and there are those who choose bread. Zhang Guowei, the illegitimate son of
"Sea Emperor"Zhang Rongfa, is the heir of the Evergreen Group worth NT$400 billion selected by his father in his will.
But he also lost money for love.
Why did he get his father's favor as an illegitimate child, and why would he lose money in pursuit of love?
1. The illegitimate son of the "Emperor of the Sea"
On March 23, 2021, a huge cargo ship " Changci" got stuck in the middle of the Suez Canal, and the Suez Canal was paralyzed.
The operator of the "Long Ci" is Evergreen Shipping . Evergreen Shipping has been recognized as the world's largest container shipping company since 1986, and has always maintained this "maritime supremacy" status. Although
, after the founder Zhang Rongfa passed away in 2016, is still one of the overlords of the shipping industry.
Even when a market research agency in Taipei conducted a survey on Taiwanese products in Europe, most of the respondents only answered Evergreen in terms of local people's perception of Taiwanese brands.
The reaction of the people is enough to prove the size of the Evergreen Group.
The fact that Evergreen Shipping can reach its current scale is inseparable from its founder Zhang Rongfa.
He is from Penghu, Taiwan, and grew up in Keelung city.
's family has no background, and like ordinary people in Keelung, they make a living by "chasing the sea".
Zhang Rongfa's father passed away when he was 18 years old, and his seven children were raised by their mother.
In 1968, he started with a 20-year-old cargo ship and founded Evergreen Shipping Company.
He turned his eyes to the deep sea and believed that the future of shipping belongs to ocean voyages.
In 1969, Evergreen Shipping historically opened up the Middle East route, occupying the Chinese market in the Middle East and avoiding the market blockade by Europeans. In the vigorous development of
business, Zhang Rongfa did not rest on his laurels, but instead upgraded to a large container ship .
By 1979, all of Evergreen's regular routes had been containerized.
In 1984, he directly opened a global route, which not only reduced operating costs, but also opened up the company's blue ocean in the global market.
Evergreen Shipping became the world's largest container fleet at that time, and Zhang Rongfa became what people call the "Emperor of the Sea".
Times have changed, and Evergreen Shipping has also developed into Evergreen Group, a behemoth.
His business method is the old-school oriental patriarchal style, and his personal life also bears the imprint of the old era.
He has two wives, Lin Jinzhi, the first wife, and Li Yumei, the second wife.
Lin Jinzhi and Zhang Rong have one daughter and three sons: the eldest daughter Zhang Shuhua, the eldest son Zhang Guohua, the second son Zhang Guoming, the third son Zhang Guozheng, and the second wife Li Yumei has only one son Zhang Guowei.
The five children all joined the family business when they became adults.
As the second son, Zhang Guowei's mother, Li Yumei, was not able to be rectified before Lin Jinzhi passed away.
Therefore, Zhang Guowei is an illegitimate child, that is, an illegitimate child.
Whether Zhang Rongfa is going abroad or seeing guests, he prefers to take Li Yumei with his second wife, rather than the frail Lin Jinzhi.
After Lin Jinzhi passed away in 2013, Zhang Rongfa insisted on formally registering his marriage with Li Yumei one year later, even though the big house strongly opposed it.
Although Zhang Guowei is an illegitimate child, he has always been the child favored by his father.
Whether it is public reports by the media or private disclosures by insiders, Zhang Guowei has a bold personality, and Zhang Rongfa thinks that he is the child who is most like him, and he is also the most valued by him.
Zhang Guowei loved airplanes since he was a child. He graduated from the University of Southern California in the United States. He joined the Evergreen Group in 1997 and served as the general manager,Director and other positions, and later got a Boeing pilot's driver's license and worked as an aircraft repairman.
His personality and achievements made his father Zhang Rongfa favor him, he was very optimistic about him, and he also gave him great support in his career.
However, not everything about Zhang Rongfa's beloved young son can satisfy him.
2. Don't love "Jiangshan" and love beauties
Zhang Guowei's choice of feelings makes Zhang Rongfa feel dissatisfied.
Zhang Guowei once took his own flight back to Taiwan, and fell in love with the flight attendant Cai Jingshan at first sight, and they started dating, and it lasted for 3 years.
Zhang Rongfa originally expected Zhang Guowei to marry a well-matched lady, but he didn't expect his son to find his own employees.
Although Zhang Rongfa was dissatisfied, he couldn't help his stubborn son, so he had no choice but to come to the door to propose marriage, but Zhang Rongfa still didn't attend the wedding ceremony.
However, this marriage did not withstand the pressure in the end, and after only half a year, the two decided to separate.
Zhang Guowei thought that he still wanted to leave something for others to eat, instead of killing his ex-wife, Cai Jingshan returned to EVA Air as the deputy cabin chief. The separation of
has something to do with the family, and Cai Jingshan feels that it is difficult for a big family to hold a job.
originally thought that Zhang Guowei would marry a lady from a great family and live the life Zhang Rongfa planned.
Unexpectedly, history repeats itself again. Zhang Guowei inspects his own plane and meets Ye Shuwen, a flight attendant of of Uni Rong Airlines, and falls in love with her.
Zhang Rongfa objected even more this time. Ye Shuwen had scandals with Taiwanese beauty tycoons and fitness trainers. The old-fashioned Zhang Rongfa could not accept such a daughter-in-law.
He resolutely opposed this marriage on the grounds that "the family is not in the right household".
Zhang Guowei, who "loves beauty and gives up the country", chose to break with his father this time in order to show his determination to marry Ye Shuwen, resigned from his position as president, left the Evergreen Group, and even gave him the Evergreen stock that his father gave him. , nearly 2 billion yuan in real estate, all donated to the Zhang Rongfa Foundation, and went to the United States to learn how to pilot an airplane.
Zhang Rongfa still did not let go.
Zhang Guowei went to Ye Shuwen's house with a basket of fruit to propose marriage, and the two got married the next day.
The wedding banquet was only attended by relatives and friends of the Ye family, and the scene seemed extremely deserted.
The young couple didn't have much entanglement, they lived an ordinary life and had their own children.
Zhang Rongfa did not visit his grandson and daughter-in-law even one week after the child was born.
But it didn't affect Zhang Guowei's mood. When talking about children, Zhang Guowei's face is full of happiness.
But thinking of his father's unfeelingness, Zhang Guowei would also complain that he was sent back to EVA Air by the guards, and the guards would scold him.
Although Zhang Guowei had already left home at that time, Zhang Guowei was very angry about the rumor that he had a child in order to return to divide the family property.
In fact, although Zhang Rongfa didn't pay much attention to the child at the beginning, the child did become an opportunity for the father and son to break the ice.
is his own son and grandson after all, and Zhang Guowei's ability really gave Zhang Rongfa hope. Zhang Rongfa gradually reached a reconciliation with his son for his future plans.
studied aviation technology in the United States, and Zhang Guowei, who has obtained the Boeing pilot's license, officially returned to EVA Air. He started as an aircraft repairman until he became the chairman of EVA Air. The company's various businesses are booming.
Even though he has the respect of his father and he has strong abilities, the identity of an illegitimate child still makes Zhang Guowei feel the hardship.
3. Heir war
In 2012, Zhang Rongfa also considered donating all his properties to charity after his death, leaving no descendants.
Zhang Rongfa, as an old-school entrepreneur and president of Evergreen Group, still can't do it after all. After Zhang Rongfa passed away in 2016, his will was also exposed.
The content of the will includes arranging for deposits, stocks and real estate to be inherited by Zhang Guowei, the only son of the second house, and also appointed Zhang Guowei to take over as the president of Evergreen Group.
Zhang Rongfa created the "Evergreen Kingdom" with multiple industries including shipping, aviation, real estate, logistics, hotels, culture, and consumer goods. The succession issue of Evergreen Group has always attracted the attention of the outside world.
According to the content of the will, Zhang Guowei will inherit more than NT$400 billion in assets from his father.
But this aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the eldest son, and his father's anger over the second wife's preference for many years was ignited after the will was exposed.
Zhang Rongfa wrote his will on December 16, 2014 and also hoped that his children and grandchildren could live in harmony, which is obviously just a good wish. On the day when
’s will was announced, that is, on February 18, 2016, Zhang Guowei announced himself through EVA Air to take over as the president of EVA Group. I thought the will would remove the obstacles, but in fact the eldest son and son-in-law are the shareholders with the most shares.
has worked in the group's top management for many years, and his roots are quite deep, which makes Zhang Rongfa's will not rich enough to completely restrain the big house.
On the second day, February 19th, Dafang, represented by the eldest son Zhang Guohua, announced the abolition of the group's management headquarters.
This is tantamount to dismembering the Evergreen Group and completely separating the family, while Zhang Guowei, the original president, was emptied and lost all the right to speak.
Even though Zhang Guowei protested at the meeting, he couldn't resist and had to leave alone.
On March 11, Dafang, which had an advantage in equity , suddenly reassigned Lin Baoshui , the legal person director representative of EVA Air, in the name of Zhang Rongfa Foundation, to replace the original representative Zhang Guowei, and held a temporary board of directors yesterday afternoon to replace Zhang Guowei.
Lin Baoshui is a 40-year veteran of the Evergreen Group, and Zhang Guowei did not even attend the board of directors.
Although Zhang Guowei's complaint procedure to the stock exchange was illegal and did not conform to Zhang Rongfa's will, the exchange stated that there was no procedural error.
Zhang Guowei was completely defeated in this battle for inheritance, and was later removed from the board seat of Evergreen Storage and Transportation.
The long room didn't even think about leaving a bowl of rice for Zhang Guowei, leaving no room for it, and soon fired Zhang Guowei.
Zhang Guowei's 400 billion was taken away after only one day in his hands. After only one day as the president, he became an ordinary person again.
It's not that Zhang Guowei didn't try to fight back. He tried to fight back against Dafang by checking the financial reports of Evergreen International Company and replacing , the executor of 's will, but with little effect.
In the end, Zhang Guowei could only leave the Evergreen Group completely to find new opportunities. His appointed lawyer Song Yaoming said that he was not fighting for the management right, but asking for the distribution of property.
Indeed, Zhang Guowei chose to look for other opportunities.
4. Start again
After Zhang Guowei left, Evergreen Group did not calm down, but instead started to organize Xingyu Aviation .
In 2017, it began to recruit talents from outside. In 2018, Xingyu Aviation obtained the approval of the authorities for the preparation permit.
At the time, people speculated that Starspace Airlines would receive its first aircraft before the end of 2019 and start sailing in early 2020. It would initially fly routes to Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, and then target routes to the United States.
He also knows that his start-up is called "Prince's Revenge" by the outside world, but he considers himself a king, and he does not exclude cooperation with Taiwanese airlines Zhonghua and Evergreen.
Starspace Airlines also passed the test flight at the end of 2019 as scheduled, but completed the first flight of the Macau-Taiwan route in January 2020.
However, the arrival of the epidemic has dealt a major blow to Zhang Guowei's entrepreneurial journey.
In March 2020, the flight to Penang, Malaysia had to be suspended.
This is a bad luck for a new airlineTime.
Due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, outbound travel has almost stagnated, and Xingyu Airlines has to find various ways to save itself.
Starstar Airlines, like Taiwan’s China Airlines and EVA Air, has launched a “quasi-outbound” travel project. Participating passengers can experience the things they experience in outbound travel such as the airport, taking off by plane, enjoying in-flight meals, and staying in a hotel after landing. Just take off and land at the same airport.
And this method cannot be used frequently, and the enthusiasm of the public to participate quickly fades after the first round.
Starspace Airlines took another approach and launched a service to take passengers around Japan and fly back to Taiwan, without going out of the cabin, and returning to Taiwan without being quarantined. Services like
are so popular that business class seats are sold out within two minutes. The
epidemic has become an opportunity for the development of Evergreen Shipping.
Although it has experienced the crisis of blocking the Suez Canal in 2021, Evergreen Shipping has issued a year-end bonus of 40 months of monthly salary.
Affected by the epidemic, due to environmental protection and other requirements, the global shipping industry has eliminated some old ships, and the later shipping capacity has also been affected. The supply of seamen has also become a problem under the epidemic.
Western countries ease monetary policy, raising the prices of goods and services.
Evergreen Shipping has thus developed, but Xingyu Airlines can only survive with difficulty.
However, for Zhang Guowei, not all the bad things happened in the past two years. Although
failed to inherit the Evergreen Group, he still got his father's inheritance.
Zhang Guozheng, the third son of a wealthy family, filed a lawsuit against his father, Zhang Rongfa, for the invalidation of his will, but the district court ruled that he lost the lawsuit.
The court believed that Zhang Rongfa was sane and the will was witnessed by notary , which was valid and .
Therefore, Zhang Guowei can get half of his father's inheritance, worth NT$14 billion.
Zhang Guowei's father, the "Emperor of the Sea" Zhang Rongfa, hoped for a harmonious family, and his illegitimate son Zhang Guowei would inherit the family business after all, but failed, and finally had to go to court. Zhang Guowei, who chose to give up his family property in pursuit of love, did not become an heir after reconciling with his father, but starting a business again is not a new beginning.
References:
Maritime giants, "eccentric" will cause trouble; "Global People" 2016 Issue 7
Chinese ship king Zhang Rongfa; "Lu Feng Bao" 2021.05.21
Zhang Rongfa donated naked; Who is in charge of the billions? "Two houses" compete for management rights; "Xiamen Daily" 2016.02.20
"The most eccentric will in history" cited "forced palace"; "Beauty"; "Sanxiang Metropolis Daily" on August 31, 2007
Zhang Guowei was removed from the chairman of Evergreen; Zhang Guowei fought back against the production dispute; "Macau Daily" 2016.03.16
Zhang Guowei "Prince's Revenge" established Xingyu Airlines; Battle for Legacy: Shipping Business Is Facing Great Changes; "Pearl River Shipping" Issue 05, 2016