By LI JING in Beijing and CHEN YE in Hangzhou |

CHINA DAILY |

Chen Ning, founder of the home renovation start-up Mulan Build, at her company's workshop in Hangzhou. CHINA DAILY

When Chen Ning traded academic research for a toolbox, many people close to her were puzzled.

The 26-year-old entrepreneur had been pursuing a doctorate in women's leadership at a university in Australia when she made an unconventional decision: pause her studies and launch an all-female home repair company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.