Few people had heard of Ai Qingqing prior to October 15, 2006, when she announced online she would trade a paperclip for a house within 100 days.

"I have no money, but I heard about a young Canadian guy who traded a paperclip for a two-storey house. I want to achieve the same kind of miracle in 100 days. Will you help me realize my dream?" her posting read.

People soon began to react. More than 1,000 people said they would like to exchange things with Ai.

As photos and cellphones, old wine and jade bangles were tossed into the ring, Ai started trading and the value of the articles she received started to grow... and grow... and grow.

Another Internet "miracle" was being born in front of people's astonished eyes. TV stations and newspapers began to enthusiastically follow the website "miracle" story. Millions of netizens, TV viewers and readers tuned in to track the latest developments.

But, as we all know, things are not always what they seem. It turned out that Ai's spontaneity had been carefully scripted by an invisible partner.

The trading ended on January 23 this year, when Ai signed a contract with a record company to become a singer and broke up with the man who was the brains behind the operation.

Yang Xiuyu, nicknamed Li Er, has revealed he masterminded the whole thing, not just the idea of copying the Canadian miracle butevery step along the trading route.

He wrote the blog and chatted with netizens using the name Ai Qingqing. In real life Ai Qingqing was Wang Xiaoguang, just an actress in the drama produced and directed by Yang.

The 34-year-old discovered the money-making potential of Internet advertising and promotion four years ago when he was working in a Shanghai-based foreign company and surfing on the Internet to kill time like many other white-collared workers.

He said he planned to act as Wang's manager when Wang became famous with his help.

"I could have earned more than a million yuan (about 130,000 U.S. dollars) from this operation," Yang boasted.

"More than 30 media covered the bartering. Those companies should really have spent more than 5 million yuan for the coverage we gave them," Yang said.

Companies and small businesses including a bar, a jewelry company, a wine producer and a publishing company clamored to provide things for Wang to barter.

Yang said several other companies had called to offer their products but were turned down because the things were "not suitable for the drama".

After splitting from his "actress", Yang's profit turned out to be considerably less than he had hoped.

But the operation was nevertheless a lucrative affair, netting him a six-digit profit. "I should have signed a formal contract with her. I'll do that next time," Yang said.

He is proud of his creativity in what was his debut on the "Internet promotion stage".

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