"Warm congratulations to the successful completion of the 'Thousand-mile Double Ride Travel of Tracing to the Origin'." On the afternoon of November 18, a dozen people from Nanxi District of Sichuan province's Yibin city pulled up such a banner to welcome Zeng Dezhi and Liu Xiaozhong, who had just finished 16 days of cycling.

The two are Sichuan-born entrepreneurs based in Xiaolan town, Zhongshan city. They travelled south to Xiaolan in the early 1990s and settled here for nearly 30 years. They now ride 1,700 kilometers on the same road back home.

28 years ago, the 17-year-old Zeng Dezhi, who dragged a plastic woven bag and took a green train, spent three days on a journey to Guangdong province, and finally settled in Xiaolan, where he once worked as a buyer, motor driver and salesman.

Similarly, 27 years ago, the 25-year-old Liu Xiaozhong also came to Xiaolan from Yibin. He worked as a toolmaker first, and started his own business more than a decade ago.

Now, Zeng Dezhi's Xinlong Hardware and Plastic Products Factory and Liu Xiaozhong's Zhonghou Mold and Plastic Products Factory are companies with an annual output value of tens of millions. They also actively participate in various social affairs. Zeng Dezhi is also the people's mediator, earning a high reputation from the Sichuan people in Zhongshan.

"Re-take the 'journey to work' by bicycle." Zeng Dezhi said that his idea coincided with that of Liu Xiaozhong. They had been preparing for the ride for more than a month.

They traveled 1,700 kilometers west and then north along the national highway through Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou, and eventually to Sichuan. Both men got up at four or five o'clock in the morning and cycled for ten hours nonstop every day.

"Cycling and entrepreneurship are similar, and there is no trick. You need to work hard, steadily and creatively," said Zeng Dezhi.