Zheng Jilong, better known as Jerry Zheng. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Born in 1989, Zheng Jilong has become a cocktail-making wizard, starting from scratch to co-own two successful bars. D&M Bar opened in 2013 at a residential community near Beijing's CBD, and The Mixing House opened earlier this year.

A school dropout who once struggled to make a living, Zheng says an online video in which a mixologist showed his bartending flair changed his life.

That was in 2009, three years after the Weihai native from Shandong province had dropped out of a martial arts occupational school, making a meager income through occasional performances.

"I was young and didn't have a skill to impress employers," Zheng says, who is now well-known as Jerry Zheng among Beijing cocktail lovers.