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Zhao An: From zero to hero
By Shen Jie (China Daily Shaanxi Bureau)
Updated: 2009-07-28 15:09

Zhao An's story is, in some ways, the story of modern China: one against the odds journey from poverty through the Cultural Revolution to eventual wealth and success, driven mostly by will power and endurance. China Daily's intern Shen Jie reports:

Zhao An, today the president and founder of a successful television and movie company, Guangzhong Movie and Television Company, is a long way from where he started as a child, in 1954.

The third of four children, Zhao enjoyed reading and poetry as a child. His life was shattered, however, when the Cultural Revolution destroyed his family. His father divorced his mother after he was accused of being a secret agent, in order to protect the family from any repercussions. Young and without any real political interest, Zhao himself was not tortured or attacked, and instead spent most time simply the fact that schools and classes were shut down, often going fishing.

As the Third Front, Mao's effort to move much of China's industry to the interior of the country to keep it safe in the event of a war, began, Zhao was soon assigned to help the local soldiers construct a railway tunnel. The work was extraordinarily dangerous, and many of the workers, like Zhao, were adolescents, away from home for the first time.

Zhao An: From zero to hero

Zhao An 

In addition to hard manual labor, Zhao was tasked with setting explosives off in the tunnel, a particularly hazardous duty. The tunnel collapsed several times during construction, at one point nearly trapping Zhao inside. By the time the 3,700 meter long tunnel was finished, its construction had claimed 40 lives – an average of one death for every 80 meters.

"No one was sure of our imminent future; we only wished to know when we could leave," Zhao remembered. Still, he says the experience gave him a valuable sense of perspective and strength to endure less strenuous hardships later in his career.

As China recovered from the Cultural Revolution, the national university entrance exams were resumed in 1977. Zhao studied hard, but could not overcome his lack of education. He failed the exam, scoring nearly zero on math, and doing little better in literature.

Several years later, after taking a course in Chinese at the Shaanxi Television University, a popular long-distance education program, Zhao found a job as a journalist with the Xi'an Evening Paper.

"In my opinion, the young should [see] a wide spectrum of walks of life in the community. Being a journalist [let me do that]." Zhao said.

In 1979, the Sino-Vietnamese War broke out, and Zhao was assigned to cover it. Zhao was moved by the courage of the young soldiers, several of whom were killed not long after he interviewed them.

By this point, Zhao had been a journalist for nearly a decade, and, as China began its reforms, thought he might try something else. After brief stints in advertising and business, he found himself trying to break into movies and television. He sold a police drama script to TV station. He went to a local television festival, called every person he met, until he finally received a call back.

Zhao went in to negotiate the sale of his script, and drove an unexpectedly hard bargain, insisting on payment before he would leave his script with them. His tough bargaining won him the respect of the TV network executive he spoke with, and their friendship endures to this day.

The show was a success – so much so that the Washington Post wrote an article about it, and Zhao made enough money from it to travel to the United States, and, ultimately, establish the Guangzhong Movie and Television company.

Today, the company produces three or four scripts, shows, or movies each year. Unsatisfied by his company's limited finances, however, Zhao also found a position as president of Xi'an Qujiang Cultural Industry Investment Group. A state-owned firm, Xi'an Qujiang has greater resources and can produce more and more expensive movies.

For Zhao, the chief lesson of his experiences is an unyielding optimism, a belief in control over one's own destiny, and a willingness to grasp opportunity.