A man has made his fortune selling customers outdated newspapers published on their birthday.

Guo Jiang, from southwest China’s Sichuan Province, had collected nearly 1 million copies of outdated newspapers for resale, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported. He was earning about 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) a month, the newspaper said.

Some people bought commemorative newspapers as souvenirs, while some companies bought the newspapers to give to their customers as gifts.

Guo, born to a rural family, first worked for a computer company in Shenzhen after graduating from college in 1991. With business booming, the company expanded. However, profits dropped sharply in the late 1990s and the company was heavily in debt.

Guo said he struggled for a way out until 2002. That year, a former classmate helped build a digital search system for a library in Shanghai, where outdated newspapers were exceeding its warehouse capacity. After scanning the pages into a computer, the library sold nearly 50,000 copies of newspapers to Guo, who thought the newspapers would be of special value. He decided to sell outdated newspapers as gifts after seeing a television program, in which International Olympic Committee member He Zhenliang talked about the business. The veteran Chinese IOC member, who had helped Beijing win the bid to host the 2008 Olympics, said the most exciting gift he had received was a copy of The Times newspaper published on his birthday in 1929. The newspaper was sent to him by the 2004 Athens Olympics organizers, He said.

Guo bought outdated newspapers from libraries and museums with the help of his friends nationwide. He also received financial backing from friends. His collection covered major Chinese newspapers dating back to the first half of the 20th century. He sold a copy of a newspaper published in the 1990s for 88 yuan, 1970s issues for 198 yuan, 1950s for 298 yuan and 1940s for 398 yuan. He also set special prices for copies with special meanings or before the founding of New China in 1949.

Guo set up many outlets throughout the city, some at bookstores.

Once a businessman wanted as many copies as possible of a newspaper published Dec. 5, 1970, the day of his birth, and finally bought 28 issues at a high cost, he said. However, Guo found it hard to provide enough newspapers published in recent years. One man wanted newspapers published on a day in 2001 as gifts for his son born on that date and Guo could find only six copies.