Now it's time for our special series - Movers and Shakers, as we meet some of those who have made remarkable contributions to the Chinese economy and society during the country's reform and opening-up. Today we have the story of Chinese boxer Zou Shiming. As an amateur, he won three consecutive Olympic medals. After turning professional, he won his first world title at the age of 35. Here's what he has to say about his career.  

Boxing was once believed to be the most brutal and ruthless sport in China and was banned in the 1950s. However, things changed after the country's Reform and Opening-up in 1978. The following year, Muhammad Ali met with then leader Deng Xiaoping and expressed an interest in reviving the sport in China. Seven years later, it was officially restored in the country. In China's southern province of Guizhou, a boy born in 1981 started to develop a love for the fighting sport.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "I was a naughty boy who didn't like to sit tight in the classroom. I studied Kungfu for a year and was suddenly attracted by the feeling of freedom when I saw people practicing boxing, so I transferred to the boxing team. When I was younger, I was a little bit obsequious; I hoped boxing could make me stronger. At the time, I made more effort than anyone else in every practice. Our coach appraised me as an unwelcomed opponent and I suddenly found my confidence which helped me realize that this is what I would love to do."

The development of the sport in China has been relatively slow for a long time. The best the coaches hoped for was for each fighter to stay on their feet for longer than the one before him.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "People didn't think about the Chinese when talking about boxing. China had won only one gold medal which came at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, and at the time, the best result in the Olympics was the top eight. There was a time the National Sports Bureau was thinking it is not suitable for Chinese, and if there aren't any good results, they will not invest in the sport any more."

The unsuccessful revival of the sport in 1990s didn't affect the Guizhou native's enthusiasm.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "Boxing has been involved in every detail of my life, even when I walked; I walked with shuffling boxing moves. When I went through a crowd, I would have to avoid bumping into people. This way of walking is all right when the weather is good, but when it rains, the water fills the ground below which then goes everywhere because of my movements. I always heard someone behind cursing me. I was really obsessed with the sport. At the time, I didn't expect to be a world champion or an Olympic champion, I simply loved it and I devoted my life to it."

As high as Zou got, China was still weak and competing in an Olympics was far beyond his horizons.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "At the 2003 world boxing championships, I was drawn with Yan Bartelemí, a powerhouse from Cuba. When the fight started, I immediately landed some furious blows and won. I was very happy coming out of the ring. A Newspaper commentated that China's boxing team beating Cuba is like Cuba's table tennis team thrashing China. From that time on, I began to think I could be in the Olympics."

Zou gradually gained more confidence with consecutive victories, but with confidence also came trouble. Making his debut at the 2004 Athens games, the then 23-year-old suffered a defeat in the semifinals against old rival, Bartelemí.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "I woke up that day at midnight to find my coach smoking all night long. His hair had turned grey over one night and I found the ashtray filled with cigarette ends. We were indeed too careless during that event."

After the Olympics, he turned down the opportunity to turn professional following an offer from America's most famous promoter Don King, opting instead to win a first boxing Olympic gold for his country.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "At the time we changed all of our numbers to 2008, my phone number, even my car plate number."

Facing great pressure of high hopes, Zou's journey to the Beijing Olympics was far from plain sailing.

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "There are too many things that happened. I remember right before the day of weigh-in, my head was knocked by someone's elbow, and started bleeding and I didn't dare to report my injury because if my opponent's coach knew, they would attack my wound. In the round of 16, I was facing a French guy. I didn't want to get too close to my opponent even though I was losing on points and after every round, when I was resting; my coach told me how much I left behind. I told myself 'you can't lose, if you lose there will be no gold.' I was wondering, do I really not have the luck to win an Olympic title? In the last round, from the edge of the ring to the middle, the distance is very short, but I was thinking a lot. It was like a movie going on in my head. Then I suddenly stopped thinking, and told myself 'you are a man, you have to survive this.' And when it started, I tried hard to find opportunities, and never stopped fighting back even I was hit. I managed to knock my opponent to the ground. When it all ended, the referee was holding both of our hands and waiting for the result. It was too close and it took a long time to calculate. I had such huge belief, I had been waiting for this moment for too long, I have to win the gold."

But the joy didn't last long. Zou saw his dream come but another failed not long after.

ZOU SHIMING 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS CHAMPION "We had a victory meeting, I was showing my medal to my boss and wanted to tell him that I have finished my mission and want to start my career as a professional boxer. Before I spoke, my boss said to me: Shiming, China's boxing can't only have one gold medal, you have to earn another gold in London. This meant not having a golden age in a pro career and focusing on the Olympics."

He decided to stay as an armature in order to compete for China and try for more win gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

ZOU SHIMING 2-TIME OLYMPIC CHAMPION "At the beginning, I was very happy. I took photos with different poses. But when I came back home, there is only one status, I kept looking through the window for a very long time and wondering where my next stop is. My wife saw me and asked 'have you considered being a professional boxer?' I said of course I have, that is what I've been dreaming of. She said ok, I'll go with you. We both quit our jobs, and arranged our money into three categories, one part for our parents, one part for our children, and the rest is for ourselves, just in case we didn't succeed, and we still have some money to live on."

As 31 years old, he was still the oldest Olympic boxer to turn professional. For Zou, age wasn't the only obstacle lying ahead of him.

RAN YINGYING ZOU SHIMING'S WIFE "While preparing to be a pro boxer, he changed his way of fighting, but your muscle has memories which is hard to change. Also he has to get to use to a totally strange environment, at the same time we have to take care of all of our life all by ourselves. For him, it's not only a professional challenge, it's a life-changing challenge."

ZOU SHIMING CHINESE BOXER "In the past, your country will help you arrange everything. All you have to do is to sleep well, practice well, compete well and eat well. When it comes to being a professional boxer, you have to do everything on your own. For example in the past, I have a masseuse help message me every day, but in the US, every message will cost you 1,000 RMB. So I am really reluctant to spend that much. So I just asked my wife to help."

Zou trained with legendary coach Freddie Roach, whose is the man behind eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao and is regarded as one of the best trainers ever.

RAN YINGYING ZOU SHIMING'S WIFE "When we arrive at Freddie Roach's training center, country flags from all over the world hanged on the 180-degree transparent window, but only without our Chinese flag, because Roach said we didn't have any Chinese trained here. So we were considering to hang up our flag through our endeavors. Then Shiming continued his training and performed very well in a bout held in China. And we flew back to Los Angeles. In the afternoon, we walked into Roach's training center with our luggage like what we did when we got there for the first time.

At 2008 Beijing Olympics, my eyes were brimming with tears when I saw our Five-starred Red Flag raising at the awarding ceremony, I was cheering among the crowd. At 2012 London Olympics, I was there with our elder son Xuanxuan, I stand at the corner and said to all the British people around me 'would you pease do me a favor, say China?' I let all the British people cheer up with me. When you see the national flag raising up, you would feel so proud, and you can't help bursting into tears. So we me and Shiming walked into Roach's training center, at that time we didn't have the atmosphere in Olympics, there was no national anthem, there was no thousands of people cheering together with you, just me and Shiming. We saw our Chinese flag hanging in the stadium, we just standing there hand in hand quietly, crying for a very long time. At that time, we finally felt that our Chinese boxers were really recognized by others."

In November 2016, the then 35-year-old finally won his first world title as a professional, defeating Prasitsak Phaprom by unanimous decision for the vacant WBO world flyweight title in Las Vegas. It also sparked wild celebrations millions miles away as in China close to 100 million people watched the fight.

ZOU SHIMING "Finally I realized my dream and achieved all the titles that I wanted to have. In achieving this belt, I used another four years. After the 2012 London Olympics, It's in 2016 when I have this gold belt. When I was wearing this one, I imagined again there is a flag raising ceremony with our national anthem and I finally proved that we Chinese can raise our flag on a western stage."

Zou's success in both the Olympic and professional ring has attracted much attention from the Chinese people themselves as they are more interested in the sport which was once considered to be brutal. Zou's mission is not only representing China to win more honors, but also promoting the sport in the world's most populous nation.

ZOU SHIMING "When I was young, I think biggest thing a Chinese boxer could do was win the national games gold. I wished I could win a national games title. But having won Olympic gold, I've come back to my team, and now they might think, we are no different, why can he win Olympic gold and I can't? I made breakthroughs step by step, my results can show others that we can achieve bigger success. In the past, we even didn't dare to dream about Olympic gold, it was already amazing if we could win the national games, let alone Asian Games or Olympics. The higher I climb on the world's stage, the more people I can affect, and more people will pay attention to Chinese boxing."

RAN YINGYING ZOU SHIMING'S WIFE "The American Sport Management Council believes what Zou does now in China is like what Ali did in America as he really plays an important role of improving the development of the sport in society. I think for Shiming, the thing matters most is how to make the sport better developed in China, and let Chinese stand side by side with boxer lovers from other parts of the world. And when Chinese is making progress in this sport, our foreign friend won't feel shocked or surprised, and they also won't say that Chinese is not that good at boxing."

ZOU SHIMING "I chose the sport of boxing in the first place, but now I think Chinese boxing has chosen me, now the sport and I have helped each other to greater success, I believe boxing and me are inseparable for the rest of my life.

I already forget I am an Olympic champion, I kind of used to forge together all the achievements that I've had before, because that only represents my past. All the gold medals can be replaced by new golds, but What I enjoy the most is that I am able to cultivate more world champions or Olympic champions, because many of my ideas can be carried on and on."