waste not

Dubbed by the west as ‘queen of trash’ and wishing to be known as ‘queen of containerboards’ one day, Zhang Yin said, “I remember a man in the business told me back then…'Waste paper is like a forest. Paper recycles itself generation after generation.'"

Resulting, she created a business which has given her personal wealth estimated US$1.5billion or more -- this makes her the richest self-made woman – exceeding that of Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, and Meg Whitman (eBay CEO).

Together with her husband in the 1990s, she drove around the US in a used dodge caravan minivan to beg for scrap paper. America Chung Nam based in Los Angeles, began as a small venture, has become one of the biggest paper trading companies -- having ties to recycling yards in New York, Chicago and California.

Her company then ship that trash paper to China for recycling into corrugated cardboard -- used for packing toys, electronic goods and furniture bearing the stamp ‘Made in China’. These packed goods are then shipped back across the seas to consumers in the west and other parts of the world.

The cycle then starts over again.

Apparently paper in the US and Europe is made from wood pulp which is better in quality to that of China’s made from grass, bamboo or rice stalks.

Noted to being tough and driven, she was able to harness the potential from those who worked for her. Ng Weiting, her former partner in HK when she first ventured out from China in 1985, recalled, "When her employees asked for a raise in pay, she would grant if that was reasonable. But when they make a mistake, she would criticize them severely. She knew when to reward and when to punish."

Zhang Yin, the oldest of 8 children, came from a military family from northern Heilongjiang province, near the Russian border. (NB The one-child policy effected in 1977.) Her father was imprisoned as a ‘counter-revolutionary’ during the cultural revolution in 1966 and released ten years later when the revolution ended.

Today her company, Nine Dragons Paper, is the biggest paper maker in China. Last March, the company was able to raise nearly US$500 million on public listing.

instant noodles

I enjoy cup instant noodle (created in 1971) for it's easy to prepare: adding hot water to dried noodles in a waterproof polystyrene container -- especially when I do not have time to go out for lunch or when I crave for hot soupy noodles. (Ok...I know this is not healthy food!)

Read from BBC news (6th instant) that the inventor of instant noodles, Mr Momofuku Ando (photo right by courtesy of BBC news), died of heart attack at age 96 in Japan.

Born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933, he founded the Nissin Food Products company after WWII to provide cheap food for masses. He was inspired when he witnessed people queueing to buy bowls of hot ramen noodle soup at a black market stall during the time of food shortage in WWII.

The first instant noodle came into market in 1958 and is popular in East Asia. Sometimes when I'm lazy to cook for dinner for one, I'd take a packet of instant noodle and add some vegetables and an egg! Viola!

In 2005, the firm developed a version of cup noodle for Japanese astronauts to eat on space shuttle.