While Zhang Baoquan has made millions through his passion for developing real estate, he hopes his passion for art will reap even greater rewards, writes Michelle Zhang.
Zhang Baoquan is one of China's most successful businessmen. In his early 50s, he leads a well-off, adventurous life few people could dare to even imagine.
Born into a farming family in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, the real estate giant worked as a carpenter, a correspondent and a film director before venturing into big business in the early 1990s.
The developer of massive Beijing real estate projects such as Space Montage and Pingod and the luxurious Yalong Bay Mangrove Tree Resort in Hainan Province, Zhang also founded the Today Art Museum in Beijing which is China's first privately owned, non-profit museum.