Li Zheya (left) and Miao Jie, founders of Jiaxianglaike, join the volunteer work to transport donated vegetables and supplies to Hubei province. CHINA DAILY

Inspired by workers

Miao, who graduated from Tsinghua University in 1998 with a degree in electronic engineering, is also a member of the pop band, Shui Mu Nian Hua, that Li listened to during his early days in Beijing.

Miao has written a new song titled Brave Road dedicated to people who have offered help to those in need.

Shui Mu Nian Hua means something personally to Li.

"I used to get up at 6 am and finish work late, going straight to bed at that time. When I listened to their songs about friendship, dreams and hometown, I felt happy and hopeful," Li recalls.

"When I met Miao in person five years ago, he was just like a big brother. He was intimate and warm, like their music."

Shui Mu Nian Hua was founded in 2001 by Tsinghua University graduates Lu Gengxu and Li Jian. In 2002, Miao, who taught himself to play the guitar in high school and sang as a member of a Tsinghua choir later, quit his job at a leading US computer maker and joined the group.

In 2006, drawn to the reputation of the university because of the band, Li started working in a canteen there.

"That changed my life. I met lots of students and teachers who inspired me to further my studies," says Li, who dropped out of school in 2000 because his family was too poor to afford his tuition fees.

After getting married in 2007 and having his first son in 2008, Li decided to take the national higher-education exam for adults. Some students and teachers he met at Tsinghua gave him free classes two hours a night. In 2009, he enrolled in Beijing Normal University, where he majored in computer science.

"My parents and my wife didn't believe that I could study in such a great university. But I made it," says Li.

After graduation, he worked in an internet company in Beijing, making about 6,000 yuan a month.

In 2011, he joined an online-education company in Beijing as vice-president, a move that later turned Li into an entrepreneur.

"Some friends from my hometown asked me to help them get jobs in Beijing as they felt I had become successful in the city. But they were not highly educated and barely knew English," says Li.

Then he quit his stable job and launched a charity in 2012, offering free classes to young migrant workers in Beijing and helping them prepare for the national higher-education exam for adults.

Many people, such as university students and teachers in Beijing, joined Li's charity as volunteers, including Miao.

So far, more than 3,000 migrant workers ages 20 to 40 have been admitted to universities after the training.

The idea of Jiaxianglaike was first shaped by the migrant workers who joined Li's classes. They brought agricultural products from their hometowns as gifts for one another, which inspired Li and Miao to start the e-commerce platform.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn