He is married to Shi Youzhen (施幼ç), with whom he has one daughter Kelly Zong (宗馥莉). Shi is the Purchasing Manager at Wahaha.[6] Zong formerly held permanent resident status in the United States, which he obtained in order to make it easier for him to travel to the country and look after his investments there.[11] His daughter attended Pepperdine University in Southern California and naturalized as a U.S. citizen, but later moved back to China and in 2007 began the procedure to renounce her U.S. citizenship.[12][13] Zong gained wide support as he played the role of "David" against a French "Goliath" gobbling up Chinese companies. However, with the revelation of his green card in 2008, public perceptions changed and his reputation sufered.[14] In 2013, he stated that because he did not re-enter the U.S. for several years, his status was thus deemed abandoned.[11]
Tax evasion allegations
Zong claimed to have been paid a salary of 3,000 EUR and 100,000 EUR annual allowances plus a bonus worth 1% of the annual profit of the joint ventures, totalling 70 million yuan of income every year.[15]
Caijing reported in April 2008 that Zong was being investigated for allegedly evading taxes amounting to some ¥ 300 million. An investigator had alleged that Zong "...earned far more than this and hasn't fully reported the tax for years". Caijing implied there may have been less than transparent payments through web of Hong Kong-registered accounts of Zong, Shi, daughter Fuli; and the former Party secretary of Wahaha, Du Jianying. Zong had apparently paid more than 200 million yuan in back taxes in October 2007, after the investigation kicked off. However, the magazine suspected Zong still owed millions more.[15]