Chen Weihong never became a painter like he wanted to, but at the age of 40 he has managed to build an art materials empire on his own.

The Phoenix Arts Group, in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, is the world's second-largest art materials supplier in terms of production capacity, after the United Kingdom-based Winsor & Newton.

"We plan to open our second overseas factory in Poland to better support the European market in 2014, and the third in Mexico, catering to our customers in the United States," Chen said.