Walking into Zhang Li's newspaper archive located within the Jinying Electro-Mechanical Market is like stepping into a room of old newspaper archives. Occasionally, when the wind blows, the yellowed pages flip over, evoking a sense of nostalgia. "Nowadays, I have nearly 10 national authoritative major newspapers, as well as local newspapers from various provinces. Of course, there are also rare extras and inaugural issues that record significant events. The earliest original newspaper can be traced back to 1949, while the most recent ones are this year's newspapers," Zhang Li said while showing off his beloved treasures: a stack of special editions recording major events such as "China's successful bid for the Olympics" and the "launch of Shenzhou V". Among them, there is even the silk edition issued by the People's Daily in celebration of the successful Olympic bid.
"It's destiny with newspapers; I've liked reading newspapers since I was a child, and I started collecting them in junior high school," Zhang Li told reporters. Back then, he lived in a rural area of Changde. Seeing his neighbors using large amounts of newspapers for making tiles, he would often go to persuade them and bring back piles of newspapers to cut out the news stories he was interested in. After entering university, his passion for collecting newspapers reached a fanatical level. He would frequently visit antique markets, and even finished goods stores were not spared. "Finding one or two newspapers from long ago made me incredibly happy."
Do you want to know what major events happened on the day you were born? A 25-year-old young man specializes in selling "birthday newspapers" and has found a business opportunity in entrepreneurship.
"It's the world that welcomed your first cry." In the online store opened by the 25-year-old Changsha youth Zhang Li, this sentence is written in the most prominent position. Some people like collecting newspapers, some love clipping newspapers, but Zhang Li has found a business opportunity in the "pile of old papers": providing others with the newspaper from the day they were born. Now, this "nostalgia industry" has not only enabled him to carve out a unique entrepreneurial path just three years after graduating from university but also brought him an income of nearly ten thousand yuan per month. This issue of the neighborhood story session tells this interesting entrepreneurial story.
In 2008, Zhang Li was about to graduate from Hunan Mechanical and Electrical Vocational and Technical College. At first, like his classmates, he wandered around looking for work. A friend's joke, "I wonder what major events happened on the day I was born," made him suddenly realize: "I've collected so many newspapers, don't they exactly answer this question?" Zhang Li instantly found his joy point and made an important decision in his life: "I'm going to start a business, specializing in selling customers' birthday newspapers!" "At the time, I borrowed 5000 yuan from my family, and added a bunch of old newspapers, which constituted all my assets." To save costs, Zhang Li chose to open an online store.
Zhang Li's newspaper archive is akin to an old newspaper archive room. This "nostalgia industry" brings him an income of nearly ten thousand yuan per month. Photo taken by Chen Fei.
To enhance the cultural flavor of the "birthday newspaper," Zhang Li designed birthday cards, crafted Chinese knots, and zodiac paper cuts, packaging these items together with the newspaper inside a gift box. He even launched a rather fun "‘Today in History’ commemorative page," listing significant events that occurred domestically and internationally on the same date as the birthday newspaper, including the event of the customer being born on that day, which makes people chuckle. With fresh products and creative packaging, Zhang Li's "birthday newspapers" quickly became popular. Nowadays, he receives around thirty to forty orders daily. Not only does he collaborate with many well-known companies, but fans of some celebrities also come to purchase newspapers as gifts for their idols.
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