Fashioned by Mother

Chen Juanhong

Born:1969

Place: Puyuan, Zhejiang Province

Job Title:President, Galaxy Model Management

Role Models: Her mother

Chen Juanhong was a small-town textile worker when she answered a recruitment ad for the Xidebao Hangzhou Silk Company Model Team in 1990. In just two years she blossomed into China's first supermodel--and she's been in the top echelon of the country's "catwalkers" ever since.

Success did not come without a struggle. Chen spent the first phase of her new career scraping by on 48 yuan a month--plus 3.75 yuan per modeling engagement. But fame beckoned at the "1991 Top 10 Models in China" competition, where she scooped the premier award. Her superstar status was confirmed a year later when she placed fourth in the "Ford Supermodel of the World"contest, far and away the best international result for a Chinese model at that time.

Now president of Galaxy Model Management in Beijing, Chen has added several strings to her bow, taking her company into stage design, the organization of modeling competitions, and producing TV shows. Legions of young women look up to her and dream of following in her footsteps.

Role Model

"My mother, Chen Zhihua. When I chose to become a model, most people didn't understand. To join the model team meant changing my job and going to the silk factory in Hangzhou. Obtaining permission to do so, and dealing with all the documents, wasn't easy. My father didn't support the idea. I went to see my mother at her workplace, and I recall walking the last few hundred meters, all the time thinking about what I was going to say.

"It took her just two days to fix everything, but the factory's bosses then changed their minds. I was a good basketball player, and the factory wanted to keep me as I was a match-winner for its team. I went back to my mother, who told me to think things through and decide for myself what to do. In the end I decided to leave, even though it meant forfeiting my salary.

"My mother made me think for myself and be independent, but she also supported me financially. Our family was poor, and to pay my school fees my mother would ask for her salary in advance. When I decided to move from Hangzhou to Shenzhen in search of better opportunities, she gave me all her savings - 2,000 yuan. I lost the lot as soon as I arrived in Shenzhen. Since then I have never asked my family for a penny.

"Because times have changed, I can't expect to be exactly like my mother. But as a person she has always been my role model. She is very capable and strong-minded, and I think my character has been similar to hers since my very young days. My two brothers [one older, one younger] were very naughty, so I was the one who had to take charge. I brought their homework from school for them, and made sure they completed it. Then I would take it back to the school and ensure it was handed in.

"My mother is very happy with my achievements. She continues to give me the feeling I can achieve anything I want. She makes me feel I'm the greatest."