Selling junk is far from a rubbish career

Behind a secondhand shop in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is the story of a man who made what many may consider an astonishing life choice, Ye Zizhen reports.

From Wu Kaisi's appearance in the workplace－an expansive mustache, long hair and wearing a T-shirt and shorts－you might never guess that he has what it takes to be a lawyer.

Wu, born in 1995 and originally from Shanxi province, grew up in a family that had rather high career expectations for him, and in 2016, with a bachelor's degree under his belt from the law school of South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, he seemed to be well and truly on the path to fulfilling those dreams.

But somewhere along the way, he discovered what some consider as junk, and he had to decide on what career path he would follow. Junk won the day.

The junk in question is the plethora of secondhand objects he sells in his shop in the Panyu district of Guangzhou. There are more than 100,000 items he has collected and bought from both home and abroad.

"Others may not understand the pleasure and excitement I find in digging out secondhand objects, but in doing so I have found a meaning for my life," Wu says.

After graduation from college six years ago, he chose not to work in the legal sector, but turned into satisfying his real passion－collecting secondhand stuff－and then opened a store to make a living from it.

You name it, and Wu seems to have it: a toilet, a spittoon and a monument that once marked a grave, being among some of the things on offer.