In the early morning of December 21, Dayi Tea’s official WeChat account announced that Wu Yuanzhi died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage while he was living in Canada, and rescue efforts failed. At present, Dayi Group has established a special committee to be fully responsible for

Every reporter: Xu Shuai Zhu Wanping Every reporter intern: Fan Qianqian Every editor: Chen Junjie

Once known as the "Tea King" of Yunnan, the 55-year-old director of Yunnan Dayi Tea Group (hereinafter referred to as Dayi Group) Long Wu Yuanzhi died suddenly.

In the early morning of December 21, Dayi Tea’s official WeChat account announced that Wu Yuanzhi died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage while living in Canada, and rescue efforts failed. At present, Dayi Group has established a special committee to be fully responsible for the company's operation and management. The company's production, operation, decision-making and other tasks are carried out normally and stably.

From a financial industry professional to Yunnan’s “Tea King”, there is huge controversy over Wu Yuanzhi’s opinions. Supporters believe that Wu Yuanzhi led the Dayi Group to successfully rise and build a leading tea company in Yunnan, driving the development of the local Pu'er tea industry and the local economy. Critics believe that Wu Yuanzhi created the "financial tea" model, speculated Dayi tea to sky-high prices, and turned tea, a consumer product, into a "luxury product" with strong financial attributes. In recent years, Dayi tea futures have frequently exploded.

Now, with the death of Wu Yuan, can the "financial tea" model he pioneered be maintained? Where will the Dayi Group that he created, known as the "first in the industry" of Pu'er tea, go in the future?

The death of Wu Yuan, the "Tea King" of Yunnan

In fact, before the official announcement of Dayi Group, the news of Wu Yuan's death was spread among the major Pu'er tea groups on December 20.

"At the beginning, the dealers were confused, and they were also checking with the group." Li Jing (pseudonym), a former employee of Dayi Group, told the " Daily Economic News " reporter.

Now, as the news spreads, sadness permeates the Dayi Group. At present, both Yiyouhui and the official website have been changed to black and white. On the afternoon of the 20th, employees of Dayi Group sent messages of condolences in WeChat Moments.

"The impact is definitely still a bit big, but the layout must have been laid out a long time ago." Li Jing said that Wu Yuanyuan founded the Dayi Group, and his death will naturally have an impact on the company.

Wu Yuanzhi's last Weibo post was posted on December 17: "The Chinese and Japanese tea ceremonies come from the same source, and the flowers bloom on two branches, each of which is wonderful!"

In fact, Wu Yuanzhi got involved with tea halfway.

In college, Wu Yuanzhi majored in aircraft design, and then went to the University of Ottawa in Canada to study business administration . After graduation, Wu Yuanzhi has been engaged in finance-related work, and has worked at the Hainan Provincial Government Economic Research Center, Hainan Securities Trading Center, Hainan Qinglan Industrial Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong Hisense Investment Co., Ltd. In 2003, Wu Yuanzhi became the director of UBM Technology .

Finance-related work experience may have inspired Wu Yuanzhi to create the first "financial tea" in the future.

In 2004, the predecessor of Dayi Tea, Yunnan Menghai Tea Factory, implemented private ownership reform. At this time, Wu Yuanzhi led the team to acquire Yunnan Menghai Tea Factory, opening a new chapter for Dayi Tea and also opening a new chapter for the Chinese tea market. .

Before Wu Yuanzhi took over, Menghai Tea Factory was already a tea factory with a long history. In 1938, Fan Hejun, a graduate of the University of Paris in France, and Zhang Shicheng, a graduate of Tsinghua University, led more than 90 tea technical workers from all over the country to Menghai (formerly known as Fohai) to prepare for the establishment of the tea tea industry. factory. Two years later, the tea factory was built. After 1976, Menghai Tea Factory's "7542", "7572" and other products became the model and standard for Pu'er raw and cooked tea.

Under the leadership of Wu Yuanzhi, who is good at marketing, Dayi Tea gained popularity. Later, Dayi Tea also engaged in hunger marketing, using high-profile promotional packaging and limited distribution to create the "Haozi Tea" series, which attracted " Tea speculators” hype.

Dayi Tea's sales store somewhere in Chengdu is photographed by reporter Zhu Wanping

The "financial tea" model has caused controversy

As for Wu Yuanzhi, external evaluation is quite controversial, and the biggest controversy he left behind is probably the "financial tea" model he created. Tea” mode.

In Wu Yuanzhi’s view, tea is not a consumer product, but a “luxury product”.He once said in public, "Tea has been a 'luxury product' since ancient times, and we must make Dayi Pu'er tea a luxury product in China."

Under the promotion of Wu Yuanzhi, Dayi Group has continued to strengthen the brand of Pu'er tea. Collection properties and features of financial products. It even launched a "futures trading" model for the tea market, which is the so-called "financial tea" model, boosting the hype of Dayi Tea.

For example, the ex-factory price of Dayi's vintage tea, the 2017 "Xuanyuan Hao" tea, is 30,000 yuan/piece, and the peak price this year for "Xuanyuan Hao" has even risen to over 2 million yuan/piece. "Daily Economic News" reporters interviewed many industry insiders who are familiar with Pu'er and learned that Dayi Tea's Pu'er has an early reputation and high market recognition, which is the competitive advantage of the tea itself. Based on this advantage, collectors also prefer Dayi's Pu'er, which has market value and collection value.

In June this year, Dayi Group announced the launch of its new tea "2021 Cangjie Hao". The official distribution price is 70,000 yuan per piece, and the retail guide price is 21,800 yuan per piece. On the last day of the ten-day delivery period, the price of "Cangjie Hao" soared, from the ex-factory price of 70,000 to 200,000. The skyrocketing price of

and the very small spot supply once caused physical conflicts such as tea merchants blocking the door and grabbing tea in Fangcun, Guangzhou, and triggered regulatory intervention and investigation.

"Usually large stores have more supplies than small stores." At that time, a former employee who had resigned from Dayi Tea revealed. In fact, the threshold for becoming a Dayi franchise store is relatively high. According to his understanding, joining Dayi now requires tens of millions of funds.

Products in a Dayi Tea sales store in Chengdu. Photographed by reporter Zhu Wanping

The price of Dayi Tea has plummeted recently

At present, the problems caused by the "financial tea" model pioneered by Wu Yuanzhi are not superficial. "Fried tea" is so simple.

On December 21, Yu Ming (pseudonym), a lawyer at Chengdu Tahota Law Firm, told reporters a case.

Not long ago, Yu Ming received an inquiry from a friend who joined a Dayi Tea store. When joining the franchise, Dayi Tea promised that if the products are not sold within two or three years after opening the store, the company will recycle the products and the store as a whole and pay corresponding interest at a certain interest rate.

However, when the franchisee tried to quit the store, he was rejected by the company. In response, lawyer Yu Ming analyzed that Dayi Tea's business model has certain risks. In his opinion, Dayi Tea does not regard tea as a consumer product, but a financial investment product.

"This circle is relatively secretive. It is only a circle of acquaintances. The contract is relatively secretive. On the surface, it just opens a teahouse where you can drink tea. The cheapest one sells a cake for hundreds of thousands of yuan, and the high-end ones sell for tens of thousands of yuan per cake. Ten thousand yuan, there are not many stores in each city." Yu Ming introduced.

What role does Dayi Group play in the "Financial Tea" operating model? Yu Ming believes that "the company must be aware of this type of model and must provide publicity, uniform decoration of franchise stores, and return of principal and interest is also the company's endorsement."

After Wu Yuanzhi's death, Dayi, which specializes in "financial tea" and "sky-high price tea" Where will the group go?

"Now Dayi Tea is moving in the direction of great health, and I don't know about other things." Li Jing told the reporter of "Daily Economic News".

In fact, the market price fluctuations of Dayi tea have already appeared. According to the data from Baijiafu Dayi Market Network as of 20:00 on December 20, the Dayi market index fell 5.56%. For example, the popular "Cangjie Hao" fell by more than 20%. On the 20th, Dayi's "2101 Cangjie Hao" price dropped by 35,000 yuan per shipment, a decrease of 28%; the "2101 Cangjie Hao" gift box version fell by 25.92%. Looking at the trend over the week, 1901 National Treasure Tribute Cake fell 30.2%.

The price changes of 1901 National Treasure Gong Yi Ti (7 cakes for one tea) on a certain platform

Reporters noticed that Cangjie Hao and National Treasure Tribute Pancakes were both popular varieties of Dayi tea this year and were once on the hot search list. However, overall, the Dayi Index fell 13.52% throughout the year, with the high point appearing in March this year.

Daily Economic News