SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE | Monday, November, 5, 2007

Jinhua, China — For years, Qiutian Chen labored on assembly lines. He polished marble. He built car parts. And he saved his money.

Six years ago, this unassuming son of farmers took those savings and spent an initial $13,000 to start a factory in the rural town of Jinhua, hours away from the nearest big city, Hangzhou.

Chen made golf carts, which he sold to his only customer, a Shanghai exporter. He couldn’t afford to travel to trade shows to establish his company further.

“We didn’t have the money. We couldn’t go abroad,” the stocky 43-year-old entrepreneur said.

So Chen turned to the one computer the business owned and its dial-up connection to the Internet. Now Chen, who has a junior high school education, is on his way to becoming a millionaire.

Chen and his company, Repow, demonstrate the growing influence of Alibaba.com, the Chinese e-commerce company that on Tuesday will list shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the largest Internet initial public offering since Google.