A graduate who snubbed a corporate career to start her own business selling steamed buns has told how even her own parents thought she was half-baked.
Now Zang Chaiyuan, 25, is so sought after by customers that she has already bought her own house and car thanks to her business.
She said: “They believed young people should find a steady job, like being a civil servant or a teacher.”
The steamed buns – known as ‘Jiaodong huabobo’ – are made of light, sweeet dough served warm.
Inside, they can be filled with anything.
But what makes Yuan’s buns so sought after is that she decorates them for any special event or date.
In one video shared from her bakery in Yantai, Shandong Province, northeast China, she shows how she creates cute rabbits dressed in red Father Christmas-style jackets.
Other favourite subjects include lions and treasure-filled bowls or bags filled with luck.
And it certainly proved lucky for her, with many of the creations also going viral on her social media accounts.
Yuan remembers how her teachers sneered at her choice of career.
She said: “I remember they told me it was shameful that I was not going for a normal office job, but was making steamed buns.
“But I was determined to carry on and it’s been hard work for three years, but now I have my own house and the car.”
She added that relatives who laughed at her at the time were now learning from her to teach their own children how to make buns.
And the upcoming New Year meant that they are snowed under with orders.
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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