30-Second Overview: Sanchang is a rare "all-encompassing daily life" group in Taiwan: buying breakfast at Meilianshe in the morning, eating beef noodles at Sanchang Qiaofu at noon, going to Quanjiafu to buy shoes in the afternoon, and finding an insurance policy from that same group in the evening. Its predecessor was "Sanchanghang," founded in 1964 by three NTU business students with 500,000 TWD; over sixty years, it has ventured into export trade, mail-order catalogs, department stores, baseball, life insurance, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The most intriguing turning point occurred in 2025, when the ninety-one-year-old Weng Chao-hsi announced in an internal letter that Sanchang Life would be entrusted to E.SUN Financial Holding, yet stated, "The Sanchang Group has not left." The history of this group is essentially a microcosm of Taiwan's consumer society.
Source: Wikipedia, Meilianshe, Sanchang Food, Economic Daily News
500,000 TWD and Three Names
In 1964, on Nanjing West Road in Taipei, three young classmates from NTU's Department of Business (Weng Chao-hsi, Chen Ho-tung, and Kuo Chung-hsi) pooled 500,000 TLD in capital to establish a partnership specializing in handicraft exports1. Combining the three founders with the imagery of "Merchant, Commodity, and Commerce," the name "Sanchanghang" (Three Merchants) was decided1. At that time, Taiwan was on the eve of an export-oriented economic takeoff; the foreign exchange earned from handicrafts allowed Sanchanghang to restructure as a joint-stock company in its second year1.
What truly left a mark on Taiwan's consumer history was the establishment of the "Domestic Division" in 1972 and the arrival of mail-order catalogs at people's homes. In a world before online shopping, an illustrated catalog where one could check boxes to order was the most fashionable way to shop imaginable for Taiwanese people at the time1. Cultural scholar Chang Che-sheng later recalled that era, writing: "I remember Sanchang Mail Order was the earliest in Taiwan; it was the most trendy and fashionable back then."7 In other words, half a century before e-commerce, Sanchanghang had already conducted a "home delivery" experiment in Taipei. The descendant of this experiment is today's Meilianshe delivery service.
Following the first oil crisis in 1973, founder Kuo Chung-hsi withdrew his shares, leaving Chen Ho-tung and Weng Chao-hsi to co-steer Sanchanghang1. This "two-instead-of-three" structure later became one of the most stable "double-engine" drivers in the Taiwanese business community. In 1976, Sanchanghang tested the waters of department store chains, opening five Sanchang Department Store outlets; in 1980, it participated in the founding of the Chinese Taipei Consumer Foundation. It was uncommon for a single business to participate in the creation of such a consumer protection group1. Looking back sixty years later, the development of this group can be condensed into a single timeline:
Source: Wikipedia, Bao Shi Guang, Economic Daily News, Liberty Finance
Among these, the dissolution in 1999 and the entrustment in 2025 serve as two bookends: a group that wrote its name into a national movement, and then changed roles in its life insurance business, driven by the same brand of judgment.
📝 Curator's Note: The logic of the name "Sanchang" (Three Merchants) was replicated by Sanchanghang for sixty years: managing every aspect of "Commerce"—trade, retail, catering, insurance, information, and pharmaceuticals. Among companies familiar to Taiwanese people, few span as many aspects of daily life. Its organizational experiments are also noteworthy: in 1090, Sanchanghang was one of the first enterprises in all of Taiwan to implement a five-day work week1, twenty-five years before it became legally mandated.
The Chain Logic of a Bowl of Beef Noodles
The version of Sanchang most deeply embedded in Taiwanese daily life is hidden within a bowl of beef noodles.
In 1982, Sanchanghang established its food service division; in 1983, it opened the first four direct-managed "Sanchang Quick & Simple Restaurants." Sanchang Food's own official website calls it "Taiwan's first fast-food chain"3. However, as the menu grew, "Quick & Simple" actually became slower. In May 1984, the company made a decision that would later be written into textbooks on chain management: slash the menu, reposition the brand, specialize in beef noodles, and rename it "Qi-Qi Qiaofu," which was then renamed "Sanchang Qiaofu" in 19863 8.
This decision to "subtract" is worth examining. For thirty-seven years, a bowl of original-flavor beef noodles has become a shared memory for generations of Taiwanese office workers. In 2026, its original price is 185 TWD, with a special anniversary price of 119 TWD4. What supports this bowl of noodles is not the skill of a single master chef, but the central kitchen built in Dayuan, Taoyuan, in 1989: the broth and braised components for all stores nationwide are produced here using standardized processes for distribution. In 1994, Sanchang Qiaofu surpassed one hundred stores3. More uniquely, Sanchang Qiaofu has insisted on full direct management without franchising from start to finish—in an era when franchising crazes led many brands to disappear, this conservative strategy allowed it to become a long-lived specimen of Taiwan's catering chains.
In 1991, Weng Chao-hsi served as the first chairman of the Chinese Taipei Franchise Association3. Many chapters of Taiwan's franchise management theory are written in Sanchang's case studies: central kitchens, standardization, direct quality control, and regional expansion. In November 2014, Sanchang Qiaofu ventured into Tokyo's Akasaka, opening its first overseas direct-managed store; in 2016, it even collaborated with Tobu Railway to sell "Taiwanese Pork Chop Bento" on the Asakusa Line's SPACIA limited express trains for 680 JPY per box8. A bowl of Taipei beef noodles was thus served on a train in Tokyo.
Other brands on the same catering line (Napoli Pizza, born in 1997; Fushingting Japanese Pork Cutlet, 200le; and the agency of Dunkin' Donuts in 2007) have made Sanchang Food one of Taiwan's largest local catering groups. In June 2024, the parent company "Sanchang Food" applied for an IPO on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, with over 412 business locations nationwide9 10. The headline "Selling beef noodles to the point of having stocks" appeared quite confidently in financial news at the time.
The Tigers That Vanished in 1999
To talk about Sanchang without mentioning the Sanchang Tigers is incomplete.
In 1989, "the godfather of professional baseball," Hung Teng-sheng, organized the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Chang Yung Industrial Group, which had originally promised to form a team, withdrew at the last minute. Hung turned to his fellow NTU classmate, Chen Ho-tung. Out of friendship, Chen agreed, investing 300 million TWD to build a practice field in the Yushan Industrial Park. Head coach Lin Shin-chang recruited sixteen players, including Tu Chung-nan, Liu Yi-chuan, and Chen Cheng-chung from companies like Korlop, Yung Kung, and Yakult, forming the "Sancharyhang Baseball Team"11.
On March 17, 1990, the first year of professional baseball began. The first game at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium drew 16,000 spectators, with Sanchang Tigers fans bringing large cheerleading squads11. In the first half-season of the inaugural year, the Sanchang Tigers won the first half-season championship in CPBL history; however, they lost the annual championship series to the Wei Chuan Dragons with a 2-win, 4-loss record11. During that decade, Lin Chung-chiu became a four-time home run king, Cheng Hsing-sheng set a record for hits in 21 consecutive opening games, and Chen Kai-fa became the first player in CPBL history to achieve a "perfect season" (hitting for average, power, and walks); the names of foreign hitters like Eagle, Garcia, and Conri remain topics of discussion among veteran fans11.
However, "starting high and ending low" became the team's fate—they were the only one of the four founding teams that never won a full-season championship, leading fans to mockingly call them "Tiger heads, snake tails." In 1997, a gambling scandal devastated professional baseball, and the market slumped as the two leagues split. On November 8, 1999, the Sanchang Tigers, with a cumulative record of 414 wins, 485 losses, and 45 ties, announced their dissolution due to unsustainable losses. Tigers chairman Mao Ming-yu and manager Chen Yu-shu met with Minister of State Huang Ta-chou at the Executive Yuan that day; Chen Ho-tung also sent a personal letter explaining the decision. Manager Chen Yu-shu recounted Chen Ho-tungs words at the time:
By reducing one team, everyone might still have a chance to make money.
Chen Yu-shu had suggested selling the team to another enterprise to minimize losses, but Chen Ho-tung simply asked: "At a time like this, who would want it?"11 That day, a group of Tigers fans spontaneously scattered blue ribbons at Xinzhuang Stadium, calling the dissolution the "1108 Professional Baseball Earthquake"11. A team that existed for only ten years, shouting "Ten years in the east, the Tigers will flourish," thus entered Taiwan's baseball history11.
📝 Curator's Note: The year the Sanchang Tigers disbanded coincided with the eve of Taiwan's economic transformation and the shrinking of the local market. Within the same decade, the same group expanded its beef noodle shops to one hundred locations while being unable to sustain a baseball team—this is a cross-section for understanding Taiwan in the late 1990s. The team took away not just the tears of fans, but an era where a corporate group wrote its name into a national movement.
From Sanchanghang to Sanchang Investment: A Group's Diversification Map
In September 1988, Sanchanghang went public with a capital of 802 million TWD1. In the following thirty years, Sanchang's territory expanded with astonishing breadth, spanning distribution, catering, finance, information, leisure, and pharmaceuticals:
| Era | Action | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Established Quanjiafu Footwear | Mass-market footwear1 |
| 1993 | Established Sanchang Life; in 2001 allied with MassMutual, renamed Sanchang Mebang Life | Entered finance and insurance1 12 |
| 1999–2000 | Sanchang Computer listed/publicly traded | Information services1 |
| 2001 | Acquired 80% of Xufu Chemical, renamed Xufu Pharmaceutical; went public in 2004 | Expanded into APIs1 5 |
| 2006 | Established Sanchang Purchasing, managing "Meilianshe" discount stores | Community supermarkets1 |
| 2006–2007 | Fushingting Japanese Pork Cutlet, agency for Dunkin' Donuts | Multi-brand catering1 |
| 2015 | Sanchanghang transformed into Sanchang Investment Holding (Stock Code: 2905) | Transitioned to a holding company1 |
The Chen and Weng families have long controlled the core of the group, with holdings of 20.58% and 19.21%, respectively, totaling about 40%. After the sudden death of Chen Ho-tung in 2004 due to a cerebral hemorrhage, his four sons each took over responsibilities—the eldest, Chen Hsiang-li, as Chairman of Sanchang Investment Holding; the second, Chen Hsiang-chung, managing Sanchang Computer; the third, Chen Hsiang-chieh, overseeing Sanchang Life; and the youngest, Chen Hsiang-pin, responsible for Sanchang Purchasing and Sanchang Food; Weng Chao-hsi's son, Weng Wei-chun (PhD in Chemistry), serves as Chairman of Xufu Pharmaceutical5 13.
The most unexpected player on this map is Xufu Pharmaceutical. When Sanchanghang acquired 80% of Xufu Chemical in 2001, no one imagined that twenty years later, this company would become one of Sanchang Investment Holding's most important assets: Xufu specializes in the production of APIs and intermediates, serving as a contract manufacturer for major Western pharmaceutical companies; APIs account for approximately 55% of its revenue; Sanchang became the single largest corporate shareholder with a 31.7lar% stake5 6. A business that started with exporting handicrafts eventually found new foreign exchange in the export of chemical molecules—it is a piece of dark humor in the group's diversification.
The shareholding structure of the two major shareholders, the Chen and Weng families, differs by only one percentage point:
Source: Sanchang Investment Holding Annual Report, Economic Daily News
The Chen family holds 20.58% through Shanglin Investment, and the Weng family holds 19.21% through Shuren and Shufeng Investment5. Together, the two families hold about 40%, providing a stable steering structure for the group over sixty years.
Meilianshe: The Second Pillar of Community Supermarkets
If Sanchang Qiaofu provides lunch for the Taiwanese, Meilianshe provides the pantry for the community.
Established in 2006, Meilianshe is positioned as a "community supermarket" between a hypermarket and a convenience store—larger than a convenience store but smaller than a hypermarket, focusing on low-priced daily necessities. Its store count is second only to PX Mart, making it Taiwan's second-largest small-scale chain supermarket5. During the 2020 pandemic, Meilianshe experienced a surge in customers where single-store traffic tripled on weekdays, with rice, toilet paper, and instant noodles being cleared from shelves5. That spring, many people truly remembered this brand for the first time.
As of late September 2025, Meilianshe's nationwide stores have reached 800, with 505 in the Taipei-New Taipei-Taoyuan area, and membership exceeding 2.5 million2. In November 2025, Sanchang Purchasing announced the acquisition of all shares of OK Mart for 125 million TWD; by March 2026, the transaction was approved, directly doubling the store count to approximately 1,60014 15. However, a note on the reality behind the numbers is needed: in the first half of 2025, Meilianshe's revenue was 6.66 billion TWD with a gross margin of 27.3%, but its net margin was only 0.8%, far lower than its convenience store peers—in the community supermarket sector, "sufficient scale" and "sufficient profit" remain two different things[^1<0xA0>]. The store scale underwent a leap between late 2025 and 2026:
| Sept 2025 | After OK Mart merger in 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Meilianshe + OK Merger Scale | 800 | ~1,600 |
Source: Meilianshe Official Website, Min Bao; 2026 value is an estimate after merger approval
From 800 stores in September 2025 to approximately 1,600 after the OK Mart merger2 14 15, the store count doubled in one year, but whether the 0.8% net margin issue will change along with the scale remains an open question.
📝 Curator's Note: A business that started by exporting handicrafts found a new moat sixty years later through "community supermarkets"—separated by mail-order catalogs, department stores, baseball teams, and quick-service restaurants. Industries constantly change, but what remains constant is the understanding of "neighborhood business": what Taiwanese people need is not just a single purchase, but the shop downstairs that is always open.
The Bottleneck in the Policy and an Internal Letter
The Sanchang story is not without shadows; the largest shadow is written on that insurance policy.
Sanchang Mebang Life is the group's primary profit driver, contributing half of the group's profits in 20195. When Sanchang Life was established in July 1993, Weng Chao-hsi—an NTU business graduate with a Master of Arts from the University of Sunderland, UK—served as the first chairman. A "lifelong learner" who only began learning golf at age 48 and founded the Sanchang Masters tournament five years later, his tenure saw the company begin to profit five years after its founding; by 1998, total premium income exceeded 10 billion TWD, making it a leading brand among domestic new life insurance companies13 12 16.
However, its financial health has always been a focus of external concern. In 2022, a year when the nationwide life insurance industry's pre-tax profit reached 388.5 billion TWD (an 88.5% increase), Sanchang Mebang earned only 1.09 billion TWD, a 24.6% decrease; in the first quarter, it suffered a single-quarter loss of 3.32 billion TWD due to bad investments in the Yuanta Taiwan 50 Inverse ETF and Russian bonds, becoming the only loss-making company among life insurers with assets exceeding one trillion TWD13. At that time, its capital adequacy ratio of 203.62% was just one step away from the 200% threshold for capital deficiency set by the FSC; over the last decade, Sanchang Mebang conducted nine cash increases, each with small amounts, barely maintaining a passing grade13. Insiders stated bluntly at the time:
"The biggest problem with Sanchang Mebang Life is that the major shareholder, Sanchang Group, lacks sufficient financial strength."13
In February of that year, eighty-eight-year-old Weng Chao-hsi was called upon in a time of crisis to retake the helm of Sanchang Life. When appearing publicly in September, he told employees, "Sanchang Mebang Life is a good company"13 16. A founder born in 1934, returning to the chairman position at age eighty-eight—this in itself is a piece of corporate history worth writing.
In 2025, the conclusion arrived: E.SUN Financial Holding announced its agreement to merge with Sanchang Mebary Life. Weng Chao-hxy issued an internal letter, frankly stating, "Under limited capital conditions, operations regarding investment opportunities and hedging space will be relatively limited," and uttered the phrase that has since been repeatedly quoted:
"The Sanchang Group has not left; we are simply changing roles to continue supporting this company. There may be a possibility of a future name change for the company, but the team's goal and philosophy for the company's sustainable operation will not change."17
This letter is the key to understanding the entire group. He stated that "competitors are not enemies; different industries can serve as teachers," believing that the advantage of complementary strengths—where E.SUN Financial Holding "happens to lack a life insurance business"—would double the company's competitiveness17. Over sixty-one years, Sanchanghang transformed from a trader to a holding company, from owning a baseball team to selling it, and from operating its own life insurance to entrusting it to a financial holding company—the group's core capability has never been about guarding a specific industry, but about knowing which path to walk and which path to let go.
So What?
Therefore, the lesson Sanchang offers Taiwan is not the textbook conclusion of "successful diversification." What is truly worth remembering is: a corporate group can remain out of the spotlight for sixty years, yet become indispensable to the daily lives of almost every Taiwanese person. The community stores of Meilianshe, the beef noodles of Sanchang Qiaofu, the shoes from Quanjiafu, and that life insurance policy whose name may soon change—Sanchang's way of existing is to weave itself into the underlying structure of Taiwan's daily life.
And when that group of fans scattered blue ribbons at Xinzhuang Stadium in 1999, they were actually saying goodbye to more than just a baseball team. It was a footnote left by a group for an era, situated between the exit of Taiwan's export glory and the rise of domestic consumption. In 2025, ninety-one-year-old Weng Chao-hsi once again provided a footnote for the group—only this time, the footnote is written on the transfer deed of an insurance policy, addressed to E.SUN Financial Holding, and addressed to Nanjing West Road sixty years ago17.
✦ "The Sanchang Group has not left; we are simply changing roles to continue supporting this company." — Weng Chao-hsi, 202517
Further Reading
- Bao Shi Guang: "Ten years in the east, the Tigers will flourish!" The veteran CPBL team Sanchang Tigers dissolves sadly — A complete review of the Sanchang Tigers' ten-year history, from their first-year half-season championship to the 1999 "1108 Professional Baseball Earthquake."
- Mirror Media: Sanchang Life's investment landmine storm — An in-depth report on Sanchang Mebang hitting two major landmines: the Yuanta Taiwan 50 Inverse ETF and Russian bonds in 2022.
- Liberty Finance: Sanchang Life's veteran chairman Weng Chao-hsi sends internal letter — The full text of the letter written to all employees at the time the E.SUN merger was finalized.
References
- Wikipedia: Sanchang Enterprise — Summary of company history, business landscape, 1990 five-day work week, and 2015 transition to a holding company.↩
- Meilianshe Official News: 2025 Profit Sharing Project — Official press release, including 800 stores in Sept 2025, 505 stores in Taipei-New Taipei-Taoyuan, and membership numbers.↩
- Sanchang Food Official Website: Company History — Official history page, documenting the name changes from Sanchang Quick & Simple Restaurants → Qi-Qi Qiaofu → Sanchang Qiaofu, the central kitchen, and the first chairman of the Franchise Association.↩
- Kayou News: Sanchang Qiaofu 43rd Anniversary Celebration — Press release regarding the original price of 185 TWD for beef noodles and anniversary sale prices.↩
- Taiwan Franchise Association reposting Economic Daily News: Sanchang seizes trends for strong performance — Economic Daily News report reposted by the association website, including 2019 financial reports, the succession of the four Chen brothers, Xufu Pharmaceutical's stake, and Meilianshe's positioning.↩
- Sanchang Investment Holding Earnings Call Memo (2025-09-12) — Summary of earnings call, including Xufu Pharmaceutical's API revenue share of 55% and Sanchang's 31.75% stake.↩
- Chang Che-sheng Facebook: Do you remember "Mail-order catalogs"? — Public post by historian Chang Che-sheng, recalling the generational memory of Sanchang Mail Order in the 1970s.↩
- Wikipedia: Sanchang Qiaofu — Entry documenting the Qi-Qi Qiaofu renaming, Tokyo Akasaka direct-managed store, and Tobu Railway pork chop bento.↩
- Yahoo News: Selling beef noodles to the point of having stocks! Sanchang Food's parent company applies for IPO — Report on Sanchang Food's 2024 IPO application, including its 412 business locations.↩
- Sanchang Food Official Website: Company Profile — Official profile page, including the claim of being "Taiwan's first fast-food chain" and store counts.↩
- Bao Shi Guang: "Ten years in the east, the Tigers will flourish!" The CPBL veteran Sanchang Tigers dissolves in less than 10 years — United News Agency Bao Shi Guang column, including the origins of the Sancharyhang team, Lin Chung-chiu's records, and Chen Ho-tung's 1999 dissolution quote.↩
- NOWnews: Loudly declaring "I am back"—How Weng Chao-hsi revived Sanchang Life — Profile interview, including the 1993 establishment of Sanchang Life, Weng Chao-hsi's education and first chairmanship, and the MassMutual alliance.↩
- Mirror Media: Sanchang Life's investment landmine storm—heavy losses from hitting two major investment landmines — Investigative report by Mirror Media in April 2022, detailing Sanchang Mebang's losses and capital adequacy controversy.↩
- Min Bao: Sanchang Purchasing's acquisition of OK Mart approved; Meilianshe aims for dual-channel synergy — Report on the approval by regulatory authorities for the 2026 acquisition of OK Mart.↩
- Threads @marktosay: Meilianshe store scale and profit structure after OK Mart acquisition — Social media financial summary (non-institutional publication), listing 2025 H1 revenue of 6.66 billion, gross margin of 27.3%, net margin of 0.8%, and approximately 1,611 stores post-merger; figures are subject to annual report verification.↩
- 財訊: After age 70, the "lifelong learner" Weng Chao-hsi conquered NTU and a UK Master's — Biographical interview of Weng Chao-hsi, including the origins of his golf and the Sanchang Masters.↩
- Liberty Finance: Sanchang Life's veteran chairman Weng Chao-hsi sends internal letter — Full report on the internal letter regarding the E.SUN merger in 2025.↩