NOBODY knows exactly how much Liang Xisen is worth. But he put in 398 million yuan for just one project.

　　At a July 1999 auction, Liang became the fourth owner of  Rose Garden, a housing estate project under construction in Beijing. He later disclosed that he would have been willing to pay as much as 600 million yuan, so he was more than happy to take over the project for less than 400 million.

　　It is well-known that Liang received little formal education. With only one year of schooling, he had to ask someone to help him to fill in check-in forms when staying at hotels. When he was looking for an address in a city, he did not know how to find it _ even if he was standing in front of it. And he also did not how to sign his name to clinch a deal.

　　As a child, Liang lived in abject poverty, sometimes as a beggar in rags. But he has materialized from a modern "pauper to prince".

　　Rose Garden was started in mid-1992 by a Hong Kong noveau riche _ who later died of an overdose of drugs while heavily in debt _ but was soon taken over by another Hong Konger, who found he was caught in a trap of incomplete approval for the project and bad accounts. The second developer was forced to borrow money with high interest.

　　Then Liang entered the scene and offered 70 million yuan for part of the building of 40 villas. When the developer was unable to repay him, Liang put in more of his own money. Meanwhile, he signed up to complete the construction of Rose Garden. This involved the investment of a total of 230 million yuan to complet 186 villas, for which he obtained ownership.

　　Liang became Rose Garden's fourth owner after a third developer failed to rescue the project and put the property up for auction.

　　Many people were skeptical of Liang's ability to develop a deluxe housing project, given that he had simply been a farmer in his early days. To explain his motive to buy the project, Liang said: "I can't let Rose Garden fail, no matter whose money is involved. It will be a loss to both the State and the property owners (if it fails). I just don't believe that no one can make a good product out of it."

　　Liang put in another 100 million yuan after the purchase to finish the first phase of construction. Meanwhile he employed 15 Canadian architects to help him design the second and third phases of Rose Garden.

　　The United Nations had selected Canada as the most livable country for five years in a row. Liang wanted to build Rose Garden into a world-class housing estate.

　　When the 12 people who had traveled to Beijing from overseas to receive their property ownership certificates and door keys from Liang in June last year, they could not believe it. Some were in tears. It had  been six years since they had made their payments and some thought they would never see their money again.

　　Liang was fortunate with his Rose Garden project. A hot spring was found ot the estate soon after he bought it which was a big plus for the value of the estate. Secondly, with Beijing successfully becoming the host of 2008 Olympic Games, land prices have soared in northern Beijing where Rose Garden is located. Another plus was a Chinese Olympic champion becoming one of the property owners of Rose Garden.

　　"Of course I've had opportunities. But everybody will have three opportunities during his or her life time. You need to work hard for success. With hard work, you will have opportunities," said Liang.

　　Liang started in 1986 from a small flour-processing factory in his hometown in Shandong Province in eastern China. With relentless effort, he developed the factory into today's conglomerate, the Xisen Group, named after himself. His business comprises many industries, such as textiles, building materials, hardware and real estate, and employs 6,000. The conglomerate is headquartered in Shandong but, since Liang spends most of time in Beijing, the headquarters will be moved there.

　　Liang's success can be attributed to his can-do attitude towards his undertakings. Somebody said he embodied the English proverb "Nothing is impossible to a willing heart". And he himself said: "I don't believe in failure. I have the resolve to achieve what I want to."

　　Liang regards himself as "very ordinary" but he says those who work for him are all very smart. Three of his five deputies are architectural experts and he has also hired a Ph.D. from Beijing to be the executive president of his group, supervising all his business in the province of Shandong.

　　"For further development, I have to rely on talents. Talents are most important," Liang said. He has a high-caliber and professional team, and each member of it has hearty admiration and loyalty for him.

　　"Chairman Liang has received little education, but his judgement of important matters is absolutely superb," said one of his deputies.

　　"His ability to absorb what is new and his sharp mind enable him always to transcend himself and be ahead of his time.

　　"And he is very, very broadminded. His ability to deal with pressure is what few people understand," the deputy said.

　　Liang believes everybody has his or her own characteristics and attention should be paid to his or her own strong points. He is tolerant of employees who make mistakes.

　　"Every person makes mistakes. It's OK if you don't repeat them. But if somebody makes the same mistake three times in a row, he will be dismissed."

　　While he has a lot of foreign business links, Russia is the only country Liang has visited, while his employees have been to many more on incentive tours. But Liang doesn't like to travel.

　　"With such beautiful surrounding as Rose Garden, why should I go out?" he asked.

　　Another project is an investment in a water-saving irrigation technology. Liang spent five million yuan on putting the system into use late last year, making it available free to farmers.

　　"I gave them the free use for two reasons," he said.

　　"One is to test the quality of my products. The other is to help farmers develop water-saving awareness.

　　"I will start to sell it in five years when the technology and the market are mature. China is a large agricultural country and my project has a huge market," he said.

　　When someone asked him whether five years was too long a time, Liang was confident.

　　"You can't look only one step ahead. You must look into a farther future."

　　He also expressed his intention to list his company with this technology.

　　On China's accession to the World Trade Organization, Liang has made his own preparations.   "What I can tell you is that our company has made the necessary adjustments and preparations.

　　We won't have developmental crises when the foreign wolves come," he said.