AT the age of 29, Jeff Graham is already the president of a company of seven people. The young American established a manufacturing and outsourcing company called USCN in his hometown in Texas about three years ago, and opened a Shenzhen office shortly after that.

Graham's company sources and manufactures sports gear, furniture, plastic, medals, and printing products. He believes Shenzhen, one of the biggest manufacturing bases in China, is a good place for the company's future development.

Graham started his company with only US$150. Previously he had studied Chinese literature at Middlebury College, which has one of the biggest Chinese-language schools in the United States. "I did not study Chinese to do business in China. It's just out of my natural interest," said Graham, whose favorite Chinese writer is Jin Yong (Louis Cha). Graham also holds a master's degree in construction management from the University of Washington in Seattle.

In his spare time, Graham walks his pet dog, which he rescued from a dog farm of his business partner in Shanghai five years ago. "I actually rescued her from a hotpot," said Graham. The dog is named Pliad, after a lake in Vermont. Graham enjoys the life here. If there is anything he really misses, it's fishing, because Shenzhen has few places to fish, he said.

Before he came to Shenzhen, Graham studied classic Chinese literature in the northeastern city of Harbin, and worked in construction management in Shanghai. He describes Harbin as an "extremely friendly city," Shanghai a "nice and modern city." "But compared to Shanghai, Shenzhen is more real," said Graham.

Editor: Wing