China's economy was just starting to open up in the late 1980s when a determined high school dropout made his way to Beijing with 600 pairs of shoes.
Ding Shizhong had them made in a relative's factory and now he was going to sell them. The money he earned paid for his first workshop where he began making footwear for other companies.
The 17-year-old was one of China's many newly minted entrepreneurs as capitalism took off under the watchful eye of its Communist Party rulers.
But, as it turns out, Ding had much bigger plans.
His business has since grown into a sportswear powerhouse called Anta, which has been building a stable of international brands, including Arc'teryx and Salomon. Most recently it bought a stake in Puma.
Now it is trying to take on the likes of Nike and Adidas, a goal that Ding spelled out in 2005: "We don't want to be the Nike of China, but the Anta of the world."
Anta may not be a household name in the West yet, but it has more than 10,000 shops in China and sponsors top athletes like freestyle skier Eileen Gu.
In February, it opened its first US outlet - a flagship store in Los Angeles' upscale Beverly Hills area.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87r2d850q4o