Before Li Ziqing developed a fascination with artificial intelligence and created the country's most sophisticated biometric tracking network, he made loudspeakers out of salvaged lumber - at age 15, when few Chinese knew what high-fidelity meant.

His interest in engineering compelled him to study at the University in National University of Defense Technology until 1985. Over time, he came to focus on pattern recognition, then a new artificial intelligence development.

"I still loved radio, but I found it had failed to push forward new technology and satisfy my curiosity about the outside world," Li says.

Biometrics was born as a field in the mid-1960s. It focused on recognizing faces, fingerprints and voices. But it wasn't until the 1990s that these technologies were seriously field tested or used. Since then, biometrics has moved from the realm of Hollywood fancy to real-world applications, such as biometric passports.

Li went to the United Kingdom and worked at Microsoft Research Asia before entering the security sector.

The Eye-CU facial recognition system he developed was a smash hit at Microsoft's 2002 internal science fair and was demonstrated by Bill Gates.

Luohu port in Guangdong province's Shenzhen city is the world's busiest land border crossing. That's where Li's facial recognition system was piloted in 2006. It processes 600,000 passengers a day and cuts passengers' average release time from 13 seconds to 6.