Although their products are nationally known and associated with the daily lives of people in China, few are aware of the stories of the business people behind them.
Their journeys illustrate how vision and determination can turn into success and symbolize the resilience of entrepreneurs in China.
The Post highlights four inspiring Chinese tycoons who have reached the top of their respective fields.
Zhang Yin
Known as the ‘Paper Queen’, Zhang Yin started her career collecting scrap paper and rose to become China’s richest person in 2006, the first woman to hold the title.
Zhang Yin worked her hardest to become the first richest woman in China. Photo: Picasa
Born in 1957 in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, southern China, Zhang had a challenging childhood and took on significant responsibilities as the eldest of seven siblings.
After graduating from university, she left a job in finance in Shenzhen, southern China, before moving to Hong Kong with just 30,000 yuan ($4,200), where she ventured into waste paper recycling.
Zhang is now chairman of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited and was listed by the Hurun Research Institute as having a net worth of 24.5 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) as of March this year.
Xu Lianjie
Xu Lianjie, 71, is known as the ‘Min Nan Business Godfather’ and was once the richest person in southeastern China’s Fujian province. He started his career as a farm laborer and later made a fortune selling sanitary napkins.
Xu Lianjie started life as a farmer and now owns a company worth $8.4 billion. Photo: The paper