"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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