CPPCC National Committee member Zhang Yin never managed to become a newsmaker during the previous NPC and CPPCC sessions.

Somehow the founder of China's largest packaging manufacturer had managed to maintain a relatively low profile.

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That all changed after she topped the China's richest people list last October.

Her business plan is simple enough: She ships several million tons of wastepaper from the United States and Europe to China and recycles it into cardboard, which is then used for boxes that wrap electronics and toys that are shipped back across the oceans to Western countries.

Zhang, "the hidden champion", has also been crowned "queen of wastepaper" in recognition of the material foundations of her estimated $3.4 billion personal wealth.

"I would rather be known as 'queen of cardboard' some day," Zhang, chairman of Nine Dragons Paper, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"My business is not collecting wastepaper, period. I turn the wastepaper into raw materials for making paper. That is the difference," she added, by way of explaining why most wastepaper collectors have not managed to amass the riches she has.

The first impression Zhang gives most people is that she is small in stature and speaks very quickly. Her ebullient personality may have helped make her the great saleswoman and savvy dealmaker that she is.

And the 49-year-old businesswoman is cooking up another plan.

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