Chinese began getting familiar with his name about 15 years ago when computers became a necessity at ordinary homes.

A NEW IDOL

According to an online survey at QQ.com, 48 percent of the 218,550 votes listed Gates' most impressive title as "one of the world's richest" people.

In another by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education last year, the Seattle native ranked third among idols of students from 19 colleges in the capital, following late Premier Zhou Enlaiand Chairman Mao Zedong.

In the past, young people's idols were Lei Feng, a soldier characterized as a selfless and modest person who was indoctrinated to follow Mao in 1963, and the adamant Paul Kocakin, hero of the Russian novel "How to Melt the Steel."

"College students nowadays tend to be more realistic," said Shen Jie, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences research fellow.

In fact, Gates did more than tell the conservative Chinese after the country adopted its reform and opening-up policy that "greed is good."

"The billionaire who topped the Forbes fortune list for 13 years mapped out another way to succeed," said Zhao Lulu, a 25-year-old pursuing a masters degree in information and communication engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Learning from Gates who dropped out of Harvard University to start his career, Li Wancheng, a Chongqing Technology and Business University student, quit to open a shop near his school in 2005. Later he worked as contractor of Building Automation System.

"I want to become the Chinese Bill Gates," he said. "Each success now could bring me a step nearer to my idol." (Xinhua)