There is a saying that goes well: childlike innocence has no age; it belongs to everyone who loves life. Childhood keeps us away from vanity and makes us open and aboveboard. So what were the childhoods of the internet tycoons we now see as so out of reach? And what untold stories did they have?

1. Jack Ma (Ma Yun)

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba

Jack Ma was a silly kid from an early age. He loved to fight when he was young, and he fought countless times, never once for himself but always for his friends. The fights got him 13 stitches, disciplinary action, and he was forced to transfer to Hangzhou No. 8 Middle School. Because of his poor family background, the family pressure was heavy, and his father had a hot temper. Jack Ma grew up under his father's fists. He couldn't stand staying at home, but he especially loved making friends. He said: "I seem wise but am actually very foolish. I'm really dumb. My brain is so small that I can only think about problems one at a time. If you ask me three questions in a row, I can't digest them." From childhood, Jack Ma was poor at schoolwork and once scored 1 point in math. Only his English was particularly good. The reason turned out to be: "When Dad scolded me, I'd talk back in English. He couldn't understand, which felt really satisfying, so I kept learning it, and the more I learned, the more enthusiastic I became."

2. Pony Ma (Ma Huateng)

Pony Ma, founder and CEO of Tencent

He was very obedient in childhood and a quiet, reserved boy. He was once obsessed with astronomy and often thought about many things related to natural science, but his biggest interest was still communicating with the stars in the sky. Back then, no one knew that this child who loved communicating with the stars would build a social empire. That's right, the shy little boy was Young Brother Ma as a child. In the process of imitation, Little Brother Ma Huateng inadvertently built a massive QQ empire, creating a brand-new way of communication for Chinese people.

3. Liu Qiangdong

Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com

He was born in Suqian, Jiangsu, from the poorest area in the province. As a child, his family was so poor that for several years in a row, every day's three meals consisted only of sweet potatoes and corn. Childhood poverty left many marks on him. This boy who grew up in poverty later became Jack Ma's only rival in the e-commerce field. In early 2004, Liu Qiangdong entered the e-commerce sector and founded "JD Multimedia Network." In 2011, he won the Chinese Economic Leader Award. In 2015, he was selected for Fortune's "World's 50 Greatest Leaders."

4. Robin Li (Li Yanhong)

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu

As a child, he was recruited by the Yangquan Jin Opera Troupe in Shanxi. At the time, the theater teacher took one look at him — fair with a rosy glow, very bright and cute — and immediately admitted him on the spot. But what is easily obtained is often not cherished. After seeing that his eldest sister became a college student and was admired by all the neighbors, he set his mind on going to college too. Later, he smoothly became a "tall, rich, and handsome IT tech guy" and built the country's largest search engine company.

Today's Baidu has grown into a large company with 30,000 to 40,000 employees and a market value of nearly U.S. $100 billion. It is also one of the three giants of China's internet and has a certain influence internationally.

5. Kai-Fu Lee (Li Kaifu)

Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of Innovation Works

The birth of this adorable boy was a huge "surprise" for the whole family. His mother gave birth to him at the advanced age of 43, against the doctor's advice. Because he had many older sisters and was born late, his eldest sister's child was one year older than him. As a result, he had his nephew as his childhood playmate, and together they did far too many "embarrassing things."

Kai-Fu Lee once studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received a Ph.D. in computer science and later served as an associate professor. He is an information industry executive, entrepreneur, and computer science researcher. He has held key positions at many IT companies, including Apple, SGI, Microsoft, and Google. After leaving Google in September 2009, he founded Innovation Works and served as its chairman and CEO.

6. Bill Gates

Bill Gates, founder and former CEO of Microsoft

He had extraordinary energy from an early age. Even as an infant, he could make his cradle rock by himself. From childhood, he loved thinking deeply, and once he became obsessed with something, he could devote himself to it wholeheartedly. He is Bill Gates, the youngest world's richest man in history. On March 1, 2016, Forbes released its latest global billionaires list. Although Bill Gates's personal wealth was U.S. $4.2 billion less than in 2015, he still topped the list for the third consecutive year with personal wealth of U.S. $75 billion.

7. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the American social networking site Facebook

This smiling little boy had a very happy childhood. His parents gave him the best educational conditions they possibly could. After he got his first computer at age 10, he found the joy of his life. His computer talent was evident very early on; he knew all kinds of code like the back of his hand, and even the programming expert hired as his tutor exclaimed that he was a child prodigy. Yes, this is Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, founder of the American social networking site Facebook. He is honored with the reputation of "the Second Gates" and is a dropout from Harvard University's computer science and psychology program.

Source: People's Daily Online