A farmer who bears an uncanny resemblance to Alibaba founder Jack Ma has given up working as a lookalike in the cities and gone back to his village in Sichuan to his original job selling mushrooms.

Shot to fame 2 years ago

According to Chengdu Economic Daily, 53-year-old Zhou Zongzhao shot to fame two years ago when a photo of him selling mushrooms on a roadside in Gong county, Yibin, was spread widely on Chinese social media.

He was then bombarded with job offers from companies that want to harness the Jack Ma-lookalike's 'star power'.

Wanting to give up the mushroom harvesting job for his family was struggling financially, he first tried his hand at other jobs.

He took up a job looking after the car park of a local driving school, but decided it was not for him.

He then became a security guard for a second-hand car dealership but was sacked after a few car thefts occurred under his watch.

Zhou then continued being a Jack Ma-impersonator, making RMB 300 to 500 (~S$61 to S$102) from each appearance at clothing stores and events organised by wedding planning agencies.

Not comfortable with imitating Jack Ma

However, Zhou soon found that he was not that comfortable with impersonating Ma.

Despite looking a lot like Ma, Zhou could not talk and behave the same way he does, resulting in him receiving fewer job offers.

He said that he was shy and ultimately could not be someone he was not:

"I've thought it through -- I'm a farmer who's most comfortable with a hoe.

Asking me to imitate Ma Yun's (Jack Ma) gestures and movement? How can I pull that off?"

He has since returned to doing what he knows best, harvesting wild mushrooms, growing corn and raising livestock such as pigs and chickens, despite making less than when he was impersonating Ma -- he earns RMB 200 to 300 (~S$41 to 61) now each day.

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Other Jack Ma lookalikes

Zhou is not the only person who looks like the Chinese billionaire.

Other people who look like Ma include an eight-year-old boy in Jiangxi province known as "Mini Jack Ma", and a security guard from Sichuan province.

There is even a man who went under the knife to look like Ma for he wants to emulate Ma's success.

Top image via Chengdu Economic Daily

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