Wang Wang: The Power Shift from the King of Rice Snacks to a Media Behemoth

30-Second Overview: The story of the Wang Wang Group is one of the most dramatic transformations in Taiwan’s corporate history. Starting as a canning factory in Yilan, it leveraged technical cooperation with Japan to develop rice snacks, sweeping the island in the 1980s and successfully entering the Chinese market. However, when founder Tsai Ing-min purchased China Times, CTV, and CTV News Channel in his personal capacity in 2008, Wang Wang ceased to be merely a food brand and became embroiled in the center of controversies surrounding cross-Strait politics, press freedom, and media monopoly. This article explores how this enterprise transformed from "snacks for children" into a "beast that influences democracy."

In 1976, Tsai Ing-min, a wealthy young man from Dihua Street in Taipei, assumed the general manager position of his father’s business, "Yilan Food," at just 19 years old. At the time, he had no understanding of financial statements and incurred a loss of NT$100 million in his first year, earning him the mockery of the business community as a "prodigal son" ¹. To wash away this stigma, he visited the major Japanese rice snack manufacturer "Iwatsuka Seika" multiple times, waiting outside their gates for two years until he finally moved founder Masao Ebisu to obtain key technology licenses ². In 1983, the "Wang Wang" brand was officially born; the logo of the "Wang Zai" (Prosperous Boy) strutting with eyes rolled back subsequently became a collective memory spanning the two sides of the Strait.

From Prodigal Son to King of Cross-Strait Rice Snacks

Tsai Ing-min attributes Wang Wang’s success to "divine protection" and "daring to charge forward." In 1992, seizing the timing of China’s reform and opening-up, he established his first factory in Changsha, Hunan. He adopted a strategy of "free sampling," allowing millions of schoolchildren to taste Wang Wang Snow Cakes for free, rapidly opening up the market. By the late 1990s, Wang Wang had become China’s largest rice snack manufacturer, and Tsai Ing-min’s wealth surged accordingly, repeatedly ranking him as Taiwan’s wealthiest individual.

📝 Curator’s Note: Wang Wang’s rise is less a business myth and more a microcosm of Taiwan’s first-generation businesspersons accurately capturing the "China dividend."

However, this business model, heavily dependent on the Chinese market, laid the groundwork for future political controversies. Wang Wang’s success in China fostered deep relationships with local officials. In 2009, Global Views Monthly revealed that Tsai Ing-min had met with Wang Yi, then Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, before acquiring the China Times Media Group. The report, titled "Report to the Director, We Bought China Times," triggered collective anxiety in Taiwanese society regarding the infiltration of "red media" ³.

The 2008 Acquisition That Reshaped Taiwan’s Media Landscape

On November 4, 2008, Tsai Ing-min, in his personal capacity, invested NT$20.4 billion to acquire the China Times Media Group, which was facing financial crisis. This transaction defeated Jimmy Lai of Next Media, who also intended to acquire the group ⁴. Tsai Ing-min admitted during public hearings that he had previously found great joy in operating food businesses, and that buying media was to "fight a battle for personal integrity," hoping to prevent outsiders from misunderstanding him as merely a profit-driven businessperson ⁵.

However, events took a turn contrary to expectations. After the establishment of the Wang Zhong Media Group, its editorial policies were highly synchronized with Tsai Ing-min’s personal stance. In 2012, during an interview with The Washington Post, Tsai Ing-min made remarks such as "I know that not that many people actually died" regarding the "June 4 Tiananmen Incident," causing a major uproar ⁶. Subsequently, the Wang Zhong Group faced accusations from academia and civil society that the acquisition of the Zhongjia Cable System would create a "media beast," sparking the "Anti-Media Monopoly Movement," a key event in Taiwan’s democratic history.

📝 Curator’s Note: When a seller of senbei begins selling opinions, Taiwanese people discovered that behind the sweetness of snacks may lie the bitterness affecting the operation of democracy.

Cease and Desist Letters and Lingchi: The Privatization of Media Power

Wang Wang’s most controversial conduct lies in using media as a tool for personal attacks. In 2009, the Wang Zhong Group sent legal cease-and-desist letters to scholars and journalists who criticized its acquisition, such as Kuan Chung-hsiang, Cheng Hsiu-ling, and Lin Hsing-fei. This was an extremely rare precedent in Taiwan’s press history of media suing critics ⁴. Additionally, then-Lawmaker Yeh I-ching was subjected to targeted attacks by Wang Zhong’s media outlets for more than 30 news items over three consecutive days after she demanded Tsai Ing-min submit authorization documents in the Legislative Yuan. Yeh I-ching described this as a "lingchi" (death by a thousand cuts) ⁷.

This "those who follow me prosper, those who oppose me perish" style ultimately led to the full outbreak of the "Reject China Times" movement in 2012. Tens of thousands of students and citizens took to the streets to protest media monopoly and press censorship. Tsai Ing-min defended himself in public hearings as a "dog falling into water," arguing that he was undergoing "ideological review," but the public saw a power holder with newspapers and TV stations attempting to redefine Taiwan’s journalistic professionalism ⁵.

After the Turn: Wang Wang’s Position in Contemporary Taiwan

To this day, the Wang Wang Group remains a multinational food giant, but its social image in Taiwan has completely detached from the simple snack brand of the 1980s. In 2020, CTV News Channel failed to renew its license due to repeated violations and internal control failures, leading to its removal from cable television. This was viewed as a delayed conclusion to the anti-media monopoly movement.

In recent years, Tsai Ing-min has begun operating the self-media channel "Wang Bo Jiang Gu" (Uncle Wang Tells Stories), attempting to reshape his personal and corporate image through storytelling. His second son, Tsai Wang-chia, has gained attention from many young netizens on social media with a humorous and grounded image. This PR strategy attempting to "depoliticize" is striving to find a new foothold in Taiwan’s highly polarized society.

📝 Curator’s Note: We still eat Wang Wang senbei, but now with each bite, what may surface in our minds is not just the taste of childhood, but a deep reflection on the power structure behind that boy with rolled-back eyes.

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