Bringing the charms of china to tourists

In one of the most popular tourist spots in the coastal city of Xiamen, in East China's Fujian province, a china painting store called 4928 Painting Hall in Zengcuo'an village was packed with visitors focused on painting white mugs, plates and vases.

Hou Yen-chih, the store's founder and owner, sat among them and occasionally gave the customers some guidance. It is his eighth year running a business in the Chinese mainland. Coming from Miaoli county in Taiwan, Hou took a chance in Xiamen by setting up a street stall and selling porcelain to passersby, after quitting his job as a manager at a listed technology company in Taiwan.

He came to Xiamen out of curiosity and expectation in 2011 - curiosity due to his little knowledge of the Chinese mainland market and expectation because he was told that he could earn more than 10,000 yuan ($1,450) a month. Hou's father, who ran his own business in Xiamen for 20 years, told him that a friend who sold porcelain at Xiamen's night market could earn that amount of money, which was pretty much the same amount Hou earned as a manager in Taiwan.