China Brands, Marketing & Consumers

The Sanlitun Stabbing & Uniqlo’s Marketing Nightmare

Published

10 years ago

August 13, 2015

It is turning out to be a tough year for the marketing department of Uniqlo, the large Japanese retail store for casual wear. After the infamous Uniqlo sex tape and slumping sales, a woman was stabbed in front of the Beijing flagship store today, once again tying the name of ‘Uniqlo’ to news events it does not want to be associated with.

The violent stabbing of a woman outside the Uniqlo flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun quickly became trending news today on China’s social media (on Weixin more so than on Weibo, where some news concerning this incident was censored).

A Chinese man, who is said to be a 25 year-old from Jilin province, was seen walking around with a sword, stabbing the woman right before the entrance of Uniqlo. Bystander pictures show a foreign man kneeling by the woman to help her until the ambulance arrives. Both the man and the woman were injured. As confirmed by The Beijinger, the man is a French national, and the woman is his wife. They were taken to the hospital shortly after the incident, where the female died of her injuries. The attacker has been arrested and the case is now under investigation.

A bystander shot a video shortly after the stabbing (warning: extremely disturbing content), which shows the stabbed woman lying on the streets, while the attacker is still pacing in front of Uniqlo with his sword.

The horrific event is linked to the name of Uniqlo (优衣库) on social media, as it is the scene of the incident. Uniqlo Beijing is located at Sanlitun The Village, a well-known shopping area near the embassy district, where thousands of people pass by every day.

‘Uniqlo’ also became a hashtag and buzzword on Weibo in July of this year, when a video went viral of a man and woman having sex in one of the fitting rooms of the Sanlitun Uniqlo store (read more). Although it was initially suggested that Uniqlo had something to do with the sex tape, the brand strongly denied having any links to it.

The Japanese clothing retailer surely is an unlikely place to record such a video, as it is a very casual brand, also known as somewhat ‘boring’. It is a store known for its folding umbrellas, Mickey Mouse t-shirts and white socks. It is where Japanese schoolkids go to buy the right blue sweater to match their uniforms; a reliable and low-priced store with clothes that can be worn by all, with a Rainbow Care Bears top to match those basic jeans.

Tadashi Yanai, founder of Uniqlo, said he was “disgusted” by the video of the couple having sex in Uniqlo.

Uniqlo has been around for quite some time. In 1994, the chain already had 100 stores in Japan. It has now expanded to 840 stores in Japan and 1170 outside of Japan, with Uniqlo being a visible brand in the main shopping areas from Tokyo to Beijing to New York.

Although the sex video might have given Uniqlo a lot of media attention, it is likely to affect its reputable brand name in the long run.

After the incident, many people came to Sanlitun Uniqlo to take a picture of themselves in front of the store. Uniqlo now no longer allows people to take selfies in front of the store, as was reported by Sina News.

In terms of sales, Uniqlo has also not been doing too well this summer, as sales within Japan have gone down for the second straight month.

The tragic stabbing on August 13 has added to Uniqlo’s bad summer of 2015.

Searching for the name ‘Uniqlo’ on Weibo, Baidu, Twitter or Google now results in news about the fatal stabbing, dropping sales, the illegal sex video and its aftermath. A marketing nightmare for Uniqlo, because shocking images of a crime scene or porn shoot do not exactly match up with a place where one would go to buy that Rainbow Care Bears tank top.

– By Manya Koetse
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[box] This is Weiblog: the What’s on Weibo short-blog section. Brief daily updates on our blog and what is currently trending on China’s biggest social media.[/box]

China Brands, Marketing & Consumers

House of Wahaha: Zong Fuli Resigns

In the year following her father’s death, Zong Fuli dealt with controversy after controversy as the head of Chinese food & beverage giant Wahaha.

Published

4 days ago

October 14, 2025

Manya Koetse

It’s a bit like a Succession-style corporate drama 🍿.

Over the past few years, we’ve covered stories surrounding Chinese beverage giant Wahaha (娃哈哈) several times — and with good reason.

Since the passing of its much-beloved founder Zong Qinghou (宗庆后) in March 2024, the company has been caught in waves of internal turmoil.

Some context: Wahaha is regarded as a patriotic brand in China — not only because it’s the country’s equivalent of Coca-Cola or PepsiCo (they even launched their own cola in 1998 called “Future Cola” 非常可乐, with the slogan “The future will be better” 未来会更好), but also because its iconic drinks are tied to the childhood memories of millions.

Future Cola by Wahaha via Wikipedia.

There’s also the famous 2006 story when Zong Qinghou refused a buyout offer from Danone. Although the details of that deal are complex, the rejection was widely seen as Zong’s defense of a Chinese brand against foreign takeover, contributing to his status as a national business hero.

After the death of Zong, his daughter Zong Fuli, also known as Kelly Zong (宗馥莉), took over.

🔹 But Zong Fuli soon faced controversy after controversy, including revelations that Wahaha had outsourced production of some bottled water lines to cheaper contractors (link).

🔹 There was also a high-profile family inheritance dispute involving three illegitimate children of Zong Qinghou, now living in the US, who sued Zong Fuli in Hong Kong courts, claiming they were each entitled to multi-million-dollar trust funds and assets.

🔹 More legal trouble arrived when regulators and other shareholders objected to Zong Fuli using the “Wahaha” mark through subsidiaries and for new products outside officially approved channels (the company has 46% state ownership).

⚡️ The trending news of the moment is that Zong Fuli has officially resigned from all positions at Wahaha Group as chairman, legal representative, and director. She reportedly resigned on September 12, after which she started her own brand named “Wa Xiao Zong” (娃小宗). One related hashtag received over 320 million views on Weibo (#宗馥莉已经辞职#). Wahaha’s board confirmed the move on October 10, appointing Xu Simin (许思敏) as the new General Manager. Zong remains Wahaha’s second-largest shareholder.

🔹 To complicate matters further, Zong’s uncle, Zong Wei (宗伟), has now launched a rival brand — Hu Xiao Wa (沪小娃) — with product lines and distribution networks nearly identical to Wahaha’s.

As explained by Weibo blogger Tusiji (兔撕鸡大老爷), under Zong Qinghou, Wahaha relied on a family-run “feudal” system with various family-controlled factories. Zong Fuli allegedly tried to dismantle this system to centralize power, fracturing the Wahaha brand and angering both relatives and state investors.

Others also claim that Zong had already been engaged in a major “De-Wahaha-ization” (去娃哈哈化) campaign long before her resignation.

In August of this year, Zong gave an exclusive interview to Caijing (财经) magazine where she addressed leadership challenges and public controversies. In the interview, Zong spoke more about her views on running Wahaha, advocating long-term strategic growth over short-term results, and sharing her determination to not let controversy distract her from business operations. That plan seems to have failed.

While Chinese netizens are watching this family brand war unfold, many are rooting for Zong after everything she has gone through – they feel her father left her in a complicated mess after his death.

At the same time, others believe she tried to run Wahaha in a modern “Western” way and blame her for that.

For the brand image of Wahaha, the whole ordeal is a huge blow. Many people are now vowing not to buy the brand again.

As for Zong’s new brand, we’ll have to wait for the next episode in this family company drama to see how it unfolds.

By Manya Koetse

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China Animals

China Faces Unprecedented Donkey Shortage Crisis

“We have plenty of cattle and horses in China now — just not enough donkeys” (“目前我国牛马都不缺，就缺驴”).

Published

2 weeks ago

October 5, 2025

Manya Koetse

China is facing a serious donkey shortage. China’s donkey population is far below market demand, and the prices of donkey-related products continue to rise.

Recently, this issue went trending on Weibo under hashtags such as “China Currently Faces a Donkey Crisis” (#我国正面临缺驴危机#).

The Donkey Branch of China’s Livestock Association (中国畜牧业协会驴业分会) addressed this issue in Chinese media earlier last week, telling China News Weekly (中国新闻周刊): “We have plenty of cattle and horses in China now — just not enough donkeys” (“目前我国牛马都不缺，就缺驴”).

China’s donkey population has plummeted by nearly 90% over the past decades, from 11.2 million in 1990 to just 1.46 million in 2023.

The massive drop is related to the modernization of China’s agricultural industry, in which the traditional role of donkeys as farming helpers — “tractors” — has diminished. As agricultural machines took over, donkeys lost their role in Chinese villages and were “laid off.”

Donkeys also reproduce slowly, and breeding them is less profitable than pigs or sheep, partly due to their small body size.

Since 2008, Africa has surpassed Asia as the world’s largest donkey-producing region. Over the years, China has increasingly relied on imports to meet its demand for donkey products, with only about 20–30% of the donkey meat on the market coming from domestic sources.

China’s demand for donkeys mostly consists of meat and hides. As for the meat — donkey meat is both popular and culturally relevant in China, especially in northern provinces, where you’ll find many donkey meat dishes, from burgers to soups to donkey meat hotpot (驴肉火锅).

However, the main driver of donkey demand is the need for hides used to produce Ejiao (阿胶) — a traditional Chinese medicine made by stewing and concentrating donkey skin. Demand for Ejiao has surged in recent years, fueling a booming industry.

China’s dwindling donkey population has contributed to widespread overhunting and illegal killings across Africa. In response, the African Union imposed a 15-year ban on donkey skin exports in February 2023 to protect the continent’s remaining donkey population.

As a result of China’s ongoing “donkey crisis,” you’ll see increased prices for donkey hides and Ejiao products, and oh, those “donkey meat burgers” you order in China might actually be horse meat nowadays. Many vendors have switched — some secretly so (although that is officially illegal).

Efforts are underway to reverse the trend, including breeding incentives in Gansu and large-scale farms in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.

China is also cooperating with Pakistan, one of the world’s top donkey-producing nations, and will invest $37 million in donkey breeding.

However, experts say the shortage is unlikely to be resolved in the short term.

The quote that was featured by China News Weekly — “We have cows and horses, but no donkeys” (“牛马有的是，就缺驴”) — has sparked viral discussion online, not just because of the actual crisis but also due to some wordplay in Chinese, with “cows and horses” (“牛马”) often referring to hardworking, obedient workers, while “donkey” (“驴”) is used to describe more stubborn and less willing-to-comply individuals.

Not only is this quote making the shortage a metaphor for modern workplace dynamics in China, it also reflects on the state media editor who dared to feature this as the main header for the article. One Weibo user wrote: “It’s easy to be a cow or a horse. But being a donkey takes courage.”

By Manya Koetse

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