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Zhang Cheng in his 40s
Zhang Cheng, born in 1972 in Guangdong province, came to Beijing alone in 2000 and became one of the Beijing drifters.
The 43-year-old Zhang did not care about the tag beipiao.
"When I first came to Beijing, I rented a basement room in Madian and found a job in Zhongguancun thanks to computer skills I learned by myself. I remember clearly the salary was 1,700 yuan ($274.21) per month at that time," Zhang said.
"Though I remained poor, as before, for some time longer, I realized I could win a place with my own ability. I think this only happens in Beijing," he added.
He shared his more than 10-year experience in Beijing by saying, "In Beijing, you will get to know where the pulse of China beats. To be more specific, you don't need to be conspicuous. You can go by the current, but what you do should always follow, or be close to, the trends."
"Do not give up the pursuit of ideal life, fearing temporary poverty. Otherwise, you'd better stay in your hometown and live in peace and at ease," he warned.
Zhang organized a team to develop high-end tourism online ordering service after some job-hopping in 2014.
"My team members are a group of energetic beipiao. They firmly believe that they are qualified for a better life, so they choose to stay in Beijing," he explained.
"Someone may dislike Beijing's fast pace of life. However, that is what urges you to learn fast by way of trial and error. If you are a designer here, your workload may be dozens of times that in small cities, but working with genius and seeing how they solve the problems you cannot deal with is a worthwhile experience, as well as fortune," Zhang said.
CEO Zhang has already planned next three years' work and life in Beijing, which will be mainly about financing and possible IPO of his company.
He believes that personnel and products are similar in certain sense. In Beijing, however, there are plenty of opportunities for people to materialize their talent and skills.
Edited by Mevlut Katik
