Workers fit electrical parts at a Fuju Stove Appliances plant in the city. [Photo by Yang Jun/China Daily]

Fu Dan, 46, was born in Xifeng County in the outskirts of Guiyang, where he drove trucks for his first job. Then aged 18, his familiarity with the roads of the capital got him his next employment－taxis. In 1996, he began his heaters business with four others from a rented garage after saving an amount from driving commercial vehicles.

His first heaters used coal and were made by people he knew in the county. Initially, he sold very few. By 2000, he started making electrical units－heating coils attached to the inner legs of a table－and sold hundreds. The current production capacity of his factory, which is located in Guiyang, is expected to soon touch 1 million units a year.

Other than Guizhou, where he annually sells some 1,000 units, his company meets the demand for heaters in cities and towns along the Yangtze River that aren't covered by the central heating system available in the country's north, owing mostly to shorter, milder winters here.

"When I was a truck driver, my dream was just to survive," says Fu, president, Guizhou Fuju Stove Appliances Co Ltd. "But today I think of larger responsibilities such as family and the factories (a new plant goes into operation next year)."

Fu, who has two children aged 7 and 17, likes to play golf. His company's total annual income is about 100 million yuan.

Giving a tour of his factory, he says, the heaters usually serve a 10-year cycle. Some women and men are seen fitting the previously tested electrical circuits into table parts in a section of the building, with the screeching of welding metal denting the air in an adjacent division that makes the asbestos-laden units.

His company employs more than 200 people and sells six main products, including "hot tables" with remote-control panels. The top-of-the-line items cost nearly 3,000 yuan.

Living conditions and public policy have improved in his city over time, he says. "The traffic's become better."

Guiyang's first subway line is expected to open next year. The outer walls of some brand-new stations have been decorated with Mao-era Communist artwork.