World

In March, Nine Dragons went public in Hong Kong, with its share price jumping nearly 40

percent on the first trading day.A half year later, the funds raised in the stock market had

reduced the company’s debt-capital ratio from 187 percent to 33 percent, and added as much

as 24 billion yuan to Zhang’s fortune, making her the wealthiest self-made woman in the

world.”My sister hates lazy people the most. She is always energetic and more diligent than

any other person I know,” says Zhang Yin’s sister Zhang Xiubo. “We obey her

unconditionally.”Five of Zhang’s sisters and brothers as well as her husband help in the

business, but Zhang denies kinship plays a key part in her management.”Out of the whole

family, only one brother has entered the company’s management. I chose him for his ability,”

she said. “My husband used to be a doctor, but I discovered his talent and convinced him to

do business. They have proved to do an excellent job.”A mother of two, she believes

balancing career and family is the key to the success of a businesswoman.
Her achievements could encourage China’s promotion of a resource-efficient society and a

sustainable economy with 10 million tons of scrap paper yet to be recycled each year.

The ACN, whose asset value was not calculated in the rich list, is reported to provides

nearly 80 percent of the raw materials for the Nine Dragons Paper.”The key to the success of

Nine Dragons Paper is ensuring the long-term and steady purchase of high-quality waste paper

in large quantities,” said Zhang.ACN took good care of that, ranking the largest U.S.

exporter of raw materials for paper-making and the biggest container exporter among all US

industries for the past five years in a row.ACN’s success came with the burgeoning Chinese

paper-makers’ reliance on imported scrap paper.Since its beginnings in the 1990s, China’s

paper-making industry is growing faster than any other in the world with an output of 49.5

million tons in 2004, while 54.4 million tons of paper was consumed, both figures ranking

the world’s second highest.However, domestic supplies are insufficient, as only 30 percent

of China’s scrap paper is recycled each year, compared with 70 percent in the United

States.Forced to buy foreign scrap, China imported 12 million tons of waste paper in 2005,

nearly half of the world’s waste paper available for export.