'I was wealthy, I knew better than to show off'

Editor's note: Zhou Kexue, 51, is regarded as the richest man in Sihe village, Jilin province.

Before going to Russia I did field work to make a living. My family owned just 1 hectare of farmland, and after an entire year toiling in the field we made less than 6,000 yuan, far from enough to support a family of five.

We would have done anything to improve our living standards.

So, in 1993, we spent out entire savings - 15,000 yuan - on jeans and sweaters in Suifenhe, a border city in Heilongjiang province, and headed for Russia.

We couldn't afford to rent a stall anywhere, so we sold from a 4-meter-long plastic sheet on the ground in Chelyabinsk. Just like in China, which has chengguan (urban management officers), we had to keep moving to dodge the Russian police.

That lasted for about two years. Thanks to the booming Sino-Russia relationship and China's fast growing economy, people were earning a lot of money.

With cash in hand, I rented two market stalls. I also cooperated with a man from Beijing to set up a market for more than 100 stalls, which was filled with Chinese traders and looked like modern-day Shulan Street in Moscow.

At the peak of my business, I not only had several containers stored at a port but also 13 stalls. Most sold slippers I bought from South China's Fujian province.

The golden days did not last long, though. Russia was hard hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1998, and the rouble quickly depreciated.

I lost two-thirds of my wealth overnight!

In an attempt to change my roubles into dollars, I spent my entire savings on purebred dogs from Germany. Business was OK and after two years of that I was left with some money.

The Russian economy gradually recovered and I restarted my garment business. Since then, things have got better, and I have a steady supply of goods.

Although I had the money, I was careful not to show off in Russia, as it could have brought me a lot of trouble and put me in danger. Instead, I always looked forward to coming home at Spring Festival, as I can spend the money on whatever I want.

The long I stayed in Russia, though, the more homesick I have become. "East or West, home is best," they say. Only after years of struggling in Russia do I finally truly understand the words.

Compared with the first few years, people are friendlier now, but I've always dreamed of coming back to China one day.

Now I can. I have entrusted my brother-in-law to take care of the business in Russia and have convinced my classmate to invest in a high-end paper factory in Shulan. With a startup of 150 million yuan, the factory can provide more than 200 jobs for local people.

When people ask me the secret of my success my face turns red. All I can say is, "No pain, no gain."

My son is 23 now and wants to go to Russia. If I'm honest, I hope he can establish his own business in our hometown and benefit the local people instead.

Zhou Kexue was talking to He Na.