Zhang Junjie, billionaire founder of the Chinese milk tea chain Chagee, will marry Gao Haichun, the only daughter of Trina Solar’s founding family, in a wedding reception set for Dec. 15.
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Zhang Junjie, the founder of the Chinese milk tea chain Chagee. Photo from Chagee’s website |
The celebration is set to take place at the Zhongwu Hotel in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, the South China Morning Post reports.
Both 32, Zhang and Gao are prominent figures among China’s rising business elite.
Gao, a Brown University graduate nicknamed the “Solar Goddess” by Chinese netizens for her looks and industry pedigree, holds an executive role at Trina Solar, the solar-panel manufacturer listed in New York and Shanghai.
Zhang was born into poverty in Yunnan, China, and became an orphan at the age of 10. He founded Chagee in 2017, Forbes reported. After the company listed on Nasdaq in April, the stock surge helped boost his estimated net worth to US$2.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The couple reportedly met at a networking event for young entrepreneurs and registered their marriage in June.
Last year, a rumor circulated alleging that Zhang had married a tycoon’s disabled daughter and fathered a child. Zhang denied the claims in a Nov. 21 social-media post, calling them false.
“I feel it’s essential to speak out openly,” he wrote. “I want to clarify that I have never been married before meeting Haichun. I aim to protect my wife and family from any defamation stemming from this rumor.”
The allegation prompted Shanghai court to order the person responsible to issue a public apology to Zhang earlier this year.