She started with $3,800 in 1985; 21 years later, Zhang Yin became China’s richest

In 1985, business tycoon Zhang Yin started a paper-trading business in Hong Kong with about 30,000 yuan, or 3,800 US dollars. More than two decades later, she would be named China's richest person, with an estimated fortune of $3.4 billion on the 2006 Hurun Rich List. The material at the centre of her business was something most people had already thrown away: waste paper. Zhang eventually built a business that collected recovered paper in the United States, shipped it to China and used it as raw material for paper and packaging products.She saw value in something others discardedAccording to a 2007 profile in The New York Times, Zhang entered the paper trade when China was facing a shortage of paper-making raw material and its manufacturing industry was beginning to expand. In Hong Kong, she learned about the waste-paper business.