When you enter the home of 73-year-old Zhu Zhonghe, you will find models of the Eiffel Tower, a Dutch windmill and the former residence of the late chairman Mao Zedong.
They are no ordinary models though. Zhu makes each one out of newspaper.
Other models such as boats, chairs and bridges are scattered around Zhu's home.
Zhu developed an interest in making paper models in 2003.
"I have arthritis in my left leg, which makes it a little difficult to walk," said Zhu. "So most of the time I stay at home."
In the first few years of his retirement, Zhu didn't have many things to do. He was bored.
"My son bought me some airplane models to try," Zhu said.
He finished assembling his first model airplane in three days. But it cost his son more than 100 yuan (US$12.30).
"After I assembled three planes and it had cost about 500 yuan, I told my son it was funny but that I would also try to find a cheaper way," Zhu said.
It was then that Zhu thought of replicating famous buildings made out of newspaper.
"Newspaper can be rolled into sticks, long or short, thick or thin," Zhu said. "And my former work in an architecture design institution gave me much knowledge about the structure of buildings."
With a little glue and some cardboard, Zhu thought it was as much fun as assembling model airplanes.
Zhu also likes the idea because it reuses the newspaper and doesn't cause any pollution.
At first Zhu began making chairs and then progressed to boats.
As his skills developed, he moved on to more difficult projects.
"Take the Eiffel Tower for example. I referred to many documents and pictures and got all the data as the first step," Zhu said. "Then I reduced it to scale and prepared the different size sticks."
Finally, Zhu began to assemble the paper sticks according to photographs. He also plans to paint it.
Zhu spent nearly six months to finish Rainbow Bridge on the Qingming River, which is in Luoyang, Henan Province.
Zhu even went to Luoyang to make sure he got every detail right.
Zhu's Rainbow Bridge was seen and appreciated by professors from Tongji University.
An official surnamed Gao, from the neighborhood committee, said whenever there are shows held by the committee, they will ask Zhu to display his creations.
"Neighbors like his works very much and someone even wanted to learn how to do it," said Gao.
(Shanghai Daily December 2, 2005)
