China, and the world, could really do with more Dorothys

While reading an American classic recently - the 1900 book The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - I found myself pondering how much the main character, Dorothy, is like a Chinese friend of mine who runs her own business.

The book, on which the wonderful 1939 movie of the same name is based, was intended to be a 20th century fairy tale. However, after stumbling across the novel on a bookstore shelf in Beijing, I was struck by how much the characters in the book, and Dorothy in particular, present a model for the ideal entrepreneur/innovator of the 21st century.

Indeed, my friend Yang Yingyin, who lives in Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and whose English name is Kelly, embodies all of the best qualities that Dorothy and her friends demonstrate in the face of countless challenges.