Tao Huabi – Inventor of the most popular chili sauce

The chili sauce of the Chinese brand “Lao Gan Ma” doesn’t exactly look all that glamorous, the design even seems really old-fashioned. And yet, it has a cult following in China: You can buy Lao Gan Ma T-shirts and mobile phone covers on the internet. At New York Fashion Week in 2018, sweaters appeared donning the likeness of the somber-looking woman in the logo. Her name is Tao Huabi. She is the creator of Lao Gan Ma, which translates roughly to “old godmother.” As a successful businesswoman who had no formal education and was forced to overcome many hardships in life, the 77-year-old is regarded by many Chinese today as the ultimate embodiment of the “Chinese Dream”.