2. Jack Ma practiced English by giving tourist free tours every morning for nine years

With limited resources, Jack Ma learned English by giving foreign tourists free guides around his hometown Hangzhou. He said that those nine years opened his mind, as he leant things so different to what he had been taught at school and by his parents.

His name "Jack" was given by a tourist from Tennessee who later became his pen friend.

Tourists enjoy the view of West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Oct 27, 2013. [Photo/IC]