THERE are over 1.3 million people working in Shenzhen’s technology sector and propelling the city’s economic development — Lin Haihui is one of them.

Holding a doctorate from the United States, Lin started a new materials business in Shenzhen and invented a kind of environmentally friendly water pigment, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

Lin went to study abroad in the U.S. at the tender age of 15 years old and returned to China in 2014. After giving up an opportunity to work at the world’s second-largest metallic pigment company, Silberline, Lin decided to start a business with his partner in Shenzhen.

Lin’s company is a technology firm focusing on new materials. A new kind of water pigment, which Lin invented, has proved that starting up an independent business was the right path for him.

The water pigment Lin invented is the first in the world to have zero volatile organic compounds (VOC), which has even interested Silberline in seeking cooperation with Lin and his company.

Leading a seemingly tedious life between the company and dormitory, Lin works almost 16 hours a day. For him, 10 o’clock in the evening is the normal working time as he gets his best inspiration at around 2 a.m. every day, and the idea of inventing new things thrills the researcher.

Lin doesn’t gather with his family, who are living in the U.S., very often, but he considers himself as the luckiest member of his family in generations because of his chance to join China’s unprecedented and booming technological development.

“My ancestors departed from Xiamen to study overseas, with some returning to China to work in the education sector and some devoted to technological research, and I feel honored to make the same choice as my ancestors,” said Lin.

At a young age, Lin is already a well-known expert in the fields of polymeric materials, inorganic materials, surface physics and rheology with more than 20 patents and patent applications in Europe and the U.S. He has also been honored with renowned awards in technological research from Switzerland and Japan.

Many of Lin’s former colleagues had asked him not to set up a company with such a far-fetched technology in China because they believed that the country did not value environmentally friendly technologies as much as other developed countries. However, Lin said he was confident that his motherland would value green technologies as it develops.

During his R&D, Lin sensed another technology with great potential: a green technology that produces plastic articles by injection molding without the procedure of spraying pigment, which can reduce costs for the manufacturers while keeping the products safe for consumers. Lin is confident about this new technology in the future market.

Lin said that the notion of further developing China’s technology mentioned in the report delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the ongoing 19th CPC National Congress has greatly inspired him. He hopes that his company and inventions can make contributions to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

(Zhang Qian)