Zhongnanhai was originally produced by Beijing Tobacco Corporation in an effort to develop a headlining product that was both commercially and socially successful.

The reason for such product innovation was highly correlated to Mao Zedong's death as with the passing away of the chairman in the late 70s, sales too began to fall.

[7] Thus with a decline of such a prestigious brand that was inherently connected with central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party, Beijing Tobacco's general manager at the time, Mr. Gu undertook the revolutionary project resulting in a household name that has sat among the best selling cigarettes in China ever since.

[8][9] The Chinese indie-rock band Carsick Cars dedicated a song called "Zhong nan hai" to the cigarette brand.

[10] In 2009, the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, an anti-tobacco NGO in China, said it would submit a petition to the Trademark Assessment Commission of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, asking it to discontinue the use of Zhongnanhai as a brand name for cigarettes.