A keen dog-lover, Tsai Eng-meng derived the company name and brand Want Want from the Chinese rendition of the sound of a dog yapping - the name also sounds like the pronunciation of the Chinese character for 'prosperity'. A giant portrait of his dog, Happy, hangs at the group's headquarters in Shanghai.
Tsai registered the Want Want trademark on the mainland in 1989, and the company officially entered the mainland market in 1992. He is believed to have maintained strong relationships with officials at central government and local levels.
With no knowledge of the mainland market, Tsai chose Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, over likelier coastal cities such as Shanghai to start his business empire across the strait.
As the first Taiwanese enterprise to invest in Hunan, Want Want enjoyed preferential policies from the provincial government, but still faced a learning curve.
'Government officials always gave us vague messages in the early days,' he told The Washington Post. 'One phrase such as 'the problem is not big' could lead to a two-day meeting to find an interpretation.'
In January, shortly before Taiwan's presidential election, Tsai, who spends most of his time on the mainland, was reported by The Washington Post to have jumped in his corporate jet and flown home to cast his vote, along with 200,000 other Taiwanese businessmen based on the mainland who rushed back, contributing to victory for President Ma Ying-jeou, who is committed to rapprochement with Beijing.