Entrepreneurial vendor earns praise

Vice-minister lauds former law student for opening noodle shop

At a busy corner in Beijing's central business district, Zhang Tianyi serves up bowls of rice noodles to white-collar workers during mealtime. The lines for the specialty from Changde in Hunan are long every day.

But Zhang is not your typical Beijing food vendor. The 24-year-old just completed work on his master's degree in law from prestigious Peking University, but instead of practicing law, he decided to open his restaurant one month ago.