Few can believe her incredible journey from the abject poverty of rural China to the top of the world’s technology. Zhou Kunfei was born in 1970 in a small village in Hunan province in China. She was the third child of an impoverished family. Her father had been seriously injured in an accident before she was born, where he lost part of his sight and a finger. Her mother died when Zhu was only five years old.

From a very young age, she decided to help her family’s finances with her sharp mind and deft hands. She learned to weave bamboo baskets and was able to repair the bicycles of her fellow villagers. At sixteen, however, she left school and migrated to Shenzhen, the big city in the province, to work in factories. Her early wages were meager; some sources say her salary was such that it was equivalent to about $1 a day. Zhu, however, did not give up. Despite working long hours, she also took night classes in accounting and electronics, skills she needed later. She also decided to live in Shenzhen near the university so she could access education and leave her parents’ home, a rarity in China at the time.