From 'the head of beggars' to CEO
(Chinanews.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-26 16:37
"Gold can be found everywhere in Beijing." Du Maozhou, a peasant from Sichuan
Province in southern China, came to Beijing collecting garbage in the late
1980s. Fifteen years had elapsed, before Du became the CEO of the Beijing
Maozhou Garbage Recycling Company.
Du Maozhou, CEO of the Beijing Maozhou Garbage Recycling Company
said he never expected he would be a boss, and an owner of a private car
and apartment as he was today.
[TaKungPao] |
Before he came to Beijing, Du
had been a primary school teacher, a radio receiver's repairer or a pigs farmer
in his hometown. But his income was still meagre. He also tried several
professions in Beijing but failed again and again. Then he became a garbage
collector in Beijing's Jiaozhuang Garbage Disposal Factory. At that time, few
collected garbage, and people thought such jobs were the beggar's jobs. But this
job made it easy to find useful things from the waste materials collected. In
1990, Du could earn 50 yuan (US$6.2) per day, which equaled his monthly income
in his hometown. From that time on, he believed he could make more money through
garbage collection.
Du discovered that valuable materials like national strategic resources
(iron, coal, petroleum, rubber, etc.) and daily necessities could be found among
Beijing's high-salary white-collar circles. Even brand new clothes could be
found in the garbage cans. Watches, cell phones, gold necklaces and earrings
could also be collected if he was fortunate enough. Once a gold medal of the
Asian Games was unexpectedly found in a trashcan by some garbage collectors, and
they were surprised and excited. They wondered whether such discovery could be
viewed as a way of narrowing the gaps between the rich and the poor.
The huge gap of living standards between town and country encouraged Du to
persuade his fellow-villagers to come to Beijing to collect garbage just as he
did. Later he became "the head of the beggars," as he was nicknamed. Because he
could manage garbage disposal authorized by the municipal government of Beijing,
his personal status also changed from a garbage collector to a manager,
commanding the respect of fellow garbage collectors.
Du said, "Teaching pupils and repairing radio receivers didn't change my
life. But collecting garbage gave me an opportunity. I never expect I would be a
boss, and an owner of a private car and apartment as I am
today."
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