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A late-90s girl who was born in east China's Anhui province has not only realized her childhood dream of becoming a painter, but also turned this ideal job into a thriving fresco business – she pocketed 40,000 yuan ($ 6,096) in six days and earned up to 1 million yuan last year. Zhang Lijia's fascination towards painting dates back to her childhood when she spent much of her leisure time drawing various pictures. Afterwards, the girl received professional education in drawing after she was admitted to an apparel design major at a university in south China's Guangdong province. To cover her living expenses following her entrance into university, Zhang persisted in doing part-time jobs, including working as a model, reception team member and a leafleteer. In her sophomore year, Zhang first came into contact with mural paintings, with the owner of a newly-opened bakery near her school having employed her to paint some black lines on the walls. "Before that, I never once laid a paintbrush on a wall. However, I found mural paintings to be not as difficult as I imagined, as they share some similarities with the dimensional cutting of apparel designs," recalled Zhang, citing this breakthrough as the initiating spark for her deep interest in this art form. After obtaining her bachelor's degree, Zhang embarked on her career as a mural painter in an art painting company with its business operations spanning across the country. During her work, the girl often had to climb up scaffolding in order to complete her painting at great heights or work unremittingly for hours at a time while taking only a brief rest on the ground of messy construction sites when tired. "At first, my parents were against my choice to become a mural painter as, in their opinion, a white-collar job seemed more suitable for girls," Zhang disclosed, adding that it was her passion towards drawing that finally earned her parents' support and made her more determined than ever to pursue this career. In 2018, Zhang started to share videos of her painting process while in-the-act online upon her cousin's suggestion. To her surprise, a mural she painted during her stay in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region received 180,000 thumbs-up on the Internet, which also helped her to attract over 1,000 new customers. Zhang resigned from the paint company and launched her own mural business in July last year, thanks to the growing popularity of her services. In November of the same year, she completed a mural painting that helped her pocket 40,000 yuan in six days during her stay in north China's Tianjin municipality. According to Zhang, she was able to finish four to five murals in relief within one month and sixty in a year, and her personal income last year exceeded 1 million yuan. "My job is tough, but I am so lucky to pursue the career that I am truly fond of," said Zhang who currently employs two customer service representatives at her own company.
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