Working with a song in her heart

Hu Jinjuan sells an average of two homes in Beijing each month. Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily

"I think we have to encourage women to work hard and achieve their goals," she says.

Hu got her job with the property company Homelink through an online recruitment agency after following her boyfriend to Beijing, where he had taken a teaching job.

The couple are now married and rent an apartment near her office.

She is coy about revealing exactly how much she makes, but lets slip that she recently purchased two apartments in Hebei, and that she is paid a base rate of 5,000 yuan a month. Commissions typically range from 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the sale value of an apartment. She concedes she makes more in one month than her parents earn farming in an entire year.

"In the last year, I sold 22 homes," she says. "I sell about two homes a month, now."

Hu says her life has changed dramatically with her increased income, but she does not have a lot of time to indulge in hobbies like watching movies and shopping, because she is focused on her career.

She saves most of what she earns, because she hopes to have a child in the next few years, and she plans to eventually buy an apartment in Beijing, so the child can be educated in the capital.

"I am so grateful to my parents for helping me fulfill my dreams," she says. "I want to help my children follow their dreams, too."

Last year, Hu received an award from her company during a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People. Her elderly parents traveled to Beijing for the first time in their lives to see their daughter honored.

Standing outside China's seat of government, she says it hit her how much her life had changed.

"My parents came with me to the Great Hall of the People," Hu says. "For the first time, I really believed I can make life better for my parents."

One of the houses Hu bought in Hebei is for her mother and father.