Later, Sun Han did quit his enviable job, and bought the first computer in the village that was connected with the Internet. What had villagers baffled was the fact that he didn't have to leave home to go out to work, instead staying at home and spending his money on electricity and internet connection charges.

"They thought he was just wasting time and was no-good," said Su's father.

When Sun Han first started to do business online, he dealt only in small commodities like shavers and flashlights, which had very small profits. It was not until 2007 when he went to Shanghai and was drawn by stores like Ikea.

"There is a lot of simple wooden furniture at Ikea. I thought that if we can make similar things ourselves, it could be quite profitable," noted Sun Han.

So with 2,000 yuan in his pocket, Sun Han started to look around the village and town for carpenters. But none of the 20 or so workers he approached was willing to do it.

"I mostly went to coffin makers or door makers, because in our area the furniture trade was virtually non-existent," Sun Han explained.

Sun was almost about to give up when he found a carpenter who offered to help him. But even he would only take the job on trial basis.

"The carpenter agreed to make the specific furniture for me. When we uploaded the photos of our products, our online business began."

With no actual stores, no customers coming to the door, or even employees, Sun would deliver dozens of orders everyday. Villagers started gossiping again. It was not until his neighbor Wang Pu, a plastic recycler, visited him one day, when the villagers actually got to know what was going on.

"In 2008, at the start of the financial crisis, the plastic industry was at such low ebb that businesses could hardly make arrears back. With factories owing me 600,000 yuan, that's about 88,235 dollars, I had zero floating capital. When I saw that e-commerce is dealt with in cash, I thought this was a better and more stable business. Now I again have floating capital," said Wang Pu.

Now early birds like Sun Han and Wang Pu are already millionaires and their success stories are very inspiring to the rest of the villagers. Through word of mouths, this new business mode spread around the whole village. By Spring Festival, China's lunar New Year in early 2009, online furniture stores were growing by one per day.

Dongfeng Village is indeed a Taobao Village, the treasure-hunting village of China.

Now young people in Dongfeng Village don't have to migrate to big cities to work. They become bosses who employ people from nearby villages. On the gate of almost every furniture factory are recruitment posters. In Shaji Town where Dongfeng village is located, furniture enterprises, delivery companies, accessory shops and online store services are mushrooming, forming a chain of e-commerce in this town little known to outsiders.

Both Sun Han and Wang Pu now have their own furniture factories. Aside from selling online, they also provide products for other online stores. Factories like these have risen to over 40, and their scales are expanding fast. Due to his contribution to local employment, Sun Han has been honored by Shaji Town as a "good Samaritan" .

"I plan to invite some teachers from Taobao.com to give some training to local villagers on marketing skills. Many of us are not very professional. Now my factory provides products for my online store and others' stores. If they sell well, my sales grow," added Sun Han.

On Dec. 16, some online-store owners gathered at Sun Han's place, and decided to set up an E-commerce association in Shaji Town. And Sun Han has been named as its first president.

"Our members will have many benefits. We will have unified bargain prices for hardware fittings, thus cutting costs."

Although Dongfeng Village is pretty well known on Taobao.com, Sun Han still deems it as a beginning. He has even bigger ambitions.

"We at Shaji are doing fairly good. But it's far from my expectations." It's Sun's dream that Dongfeng Village will become a wholesale furniture base like Likou Furniture City in Suzhou.