In 1985, business tycoon Zhang Yin started a paper-trading business in Hong Kong with about 30,000 yuan, or 3,800 US dollars.
asserted
Yin → start → yuan
More than two decades later, she would be named China's richest person, with an estimated fortune of $3.4 billion on the 2006 Hurun Rich List.
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she → name → List
The material at the centre of her business was something most people had already thrown away: waste paper.
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people → throw → business
Zhang eventually built a business that collected recovered paper in the United States, shipped it to China and used it as raw material for paper and packaging products.
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that → build → products
She saw value in something others discarded
According to a 2007 profile in The New York Times, Zhang entered the paper trade when China was facing a shortage of paper-making raw material and its manufacturing industry was beginning to expand.
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industry → see → material
In Hong Kong, she learned about the waste-paper business.
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she → learn → business
Zhang recalled advice she had received from a man in the industry.
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she → recall → industry
Paper recycles itself, generation after generation,” she told the NY Times.
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she → recycle → Times
She later arrived in Hong Kong from Guangdong in 1985 and started her own company with 30,000 yuan after turning down a job offer.
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She → arrive → offer
She began buying scrap paper through intermediaries in the United States.
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She → begin → States
The business soon showed her that Hong Kong alone would not be enough.
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Kong → show → her
China's growing manufacturing sector needed cardboard and packaging, while the United States had a much larger supply of used paper.
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States → grow → paper
So Zhang looked towards America.
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Zhang → look → America
In 1990, she moved to Los Angeles
The waste paper was used to make cardboard needed by the country's growing export industries.
As reported by The LA Times, Zhang began collecting waste paper in Los Angeles in 1990 and shipping it to China, where it was used to make cardboard needed by the country's growing export industries.
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it → move → industries
Her company, America Chung Nam, was already on track to ship about 3 million tons of waste paper in 2002, almost all of it to China.
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company → ship → China
Zhang and her husband had driven around the United States in a used Dodge minivan, approaching garbage dumps for scrap paper.
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Zhang → drive → paper
The couple had formed their US recycling company in the 1990s to collect paper and ship it to China.
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couple → form → China
Zhang later described how difficult those early years were.
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years → describe → ?
Speaking to reporters in Hong Kong in November 2006, she said: “I had to learn from scratch.
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I → speak → scratch
The business was just my husband and me, and I didn’t speak a word of English.”
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I → speak → English
“It was my hard work that helped me achieve my success,” she added.
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she → help → success
The shipping problem had an unusual solution
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problem → have → solution
There was one major difficulty with Zhang's business: waste paper was bulky and had to travel from the US to China.
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paper → be → China
But the existing trade between the two countries offered an opportunity.
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trade → exist → opportunity
Chinese ships were carrying manufactured goods to the United States.
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ships → carry → States
Some vessels had considerable unused space on their return journey.
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vessels → have → journey
According to The Economic Times, Rupert Hoogewerf, publisher of the Hurun Report, said Zhang secured low shipping rates because many vessels were almost empty after unloading their cargo in the US.
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vessels → accord → US
That helped make the long-distance movement of waste paper commercially viable.
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movement → help → paper
The basic chain was straightforward: recovered paper collected in America went to China, where paper manufacturers could process it into new packaging material.
uncertain
manufacturers → recover → material
Chinese container ships commonly unloaded goods in US ports and returned to China carrying American waste paper.
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ships → unload → paper
'America Chung Nam' became a major exporter
The company Zhang built in the United States was ‘America Chung Nam.’
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Zhang → become → States
It reported that America Chung Nam had sales of $238 million in 2001 and that its export volume had put it at the top of the Journal of Commerce's list of the nation's biggest exporters.
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volume → report → exporters
The company maintained that position for 18 consecutive years.
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company → maintain → years
By then, Zhang had identified a much larger opportunity.
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Zhang → identify → opportunity
She did not want to remain only the company collecting and exporting the raw material.
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She → want → material
She wanted to manufacture the paper herself.
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She → want → paper
She moved from recycling into manufacturing
Her companies were now involved in both sides of the process: sourcing recovered paper and manufacturing packaging paper in China.
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companies → move → China
In 1995, Dongguan Nine Dragons was established to manufacture containerboard in Dongguan, Guangdong, according to Nine Dragons' own listing documents filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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Dragons → establish → Exchange
The company's first paper machine began production in July 1998.
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machine → begin → July
Nine Dragons' listing document says a second paper machine, with a design capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year, began production in June 2000.
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machine → say → June
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
