From a waiter in a coffee house to an operation specialist at Zhongguancun Inno Way, Wang Yanchang, commonly dubbed as "Chang" by locals, wrote his unique entrepreneurship story in Zhongguancun, Beijing.

While working a part time job in in his hometown, Chang almost lost his life in a horrible accident. Having narrowly escaped death, Chang decided to try his luck somewhere else.

"I ended up in Beijing with nothing but a schoolbag and never looked back." In 1995, Chang planned to head to Guangdong province but had to stay in Beijing to save up money. What was supposed be a short period of time turned into 23 years.

Chang found a job in a coffee house and made friends with young students, talented innovators, ambitious entrepreneurs and even renowned professors.

One day, a professor at Peking University gave him an English-Chinese dictionary for middle school students and encouraged him to learn English. Chang took the professor's advice seriously - so seriously, in fact, that he could remember the page number for specific words.

In 2014, with more and more foreign startup teams gathering in Zhongguancun Inno Way, Chang's English proficiency made him a likable figure among foreign expats.

"I watched how Inno Way rose from scratch," he said. Chang was also an enthusiast who participated in over 1,700 infrastructure construction projects, startup activities and road shows.

"He is such a fool," complained his wife. However, the "fool" was recently hired as an operation specialist at the Cultural Management Office in Zhongguancun Inno Way, thanks to his remarkable contributions.

Chang has also witnessed the ups and downs of many entrepreneurs, including Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi Corp.

Encouraged by the many dreamers he has crossed paths with, Chang recently established an engineering club named "Solution". He hopes it will offer an ideal working space for talented engineers. The club will open by mid-October.

"Innovation and creativity mean nothing without action," said Chang, "I believe more successes will soon come as long as I keep my momentum going."

Zhongguancun Inno Way, an innovation center assembling entrepreneur service agencies in Beijing [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]