Bootleg vendor stands his ground

For the past five years Zhou Jianguo has conducted his pirated DVD business from his bicycle. In the morning, he pedals to a place, which he refuses to identify, where he buys the pirated DVDs, and then from 3 pm to 10 pm, he sells them on his 'turf' in front of a commercial apartment compound near Beijing's Bird's Nest National Stadium.

Even though the 39-year-old vendor, originally from Hubei province, is self-employed and does not even have a shop, he never shows up late for work.

"The most important thing have I learned running this business is that you need a good reputation. If my customers came to buy DVDs from me and I am not there, I might loose some of my regular customers," he said, adding that he never sells poor quality copies to his clients. "Sometimes, I can't get good copies for popular new movies, so I will warn my customers that the copies I have are poor and tell them they can trade for good copies once I get them," he said.