China's best-known deliveryman

Courier Dou Liguo shares his story on the talk show I'm Speaker. Photo provided to China Daily

Dou was born into a poor family in a small village in Jilin province. He dropped out of middle school as a teenager to work.

His first job was as a restaurant doorman when he moved to Beijing in 1996. He later worked as a cook.

Dou became a courier in 2004, when e-commerce was new in the country.

He says he has witnessed the growth of the delivery industry in pace with that of e-commerce giants like Alibaba.

The deliveryman jokes that Ma picked him to ring the bell because he's handsome and looks good on TV.

Actually, Dou was already known in the sector. He was honored among the 10 best couriers in the company he worked for and among the industry's top 50.

He's also known for collecting books and clothes for the poor since 2012.

His New York trip was his first time outside China. His visa was initially refused because he couldn't answer when asked why he'd never registered his residence in Beijing despite having lived in the city for 18 years. Alibaba helped him leapfrog the visa hurdles.

The trip also was his first experience fraternizing with the superrich. The standard hotel lunch for the group cost $600 a head. He met such celebrities as Ma, Jet Li and Shi Yuzhu.

Ma helped him calm down and encouraged him to be confident before he rang the bell.