Nine ways to make money 'Chinese style'
Staff Reporter 2013-09-21 13:45
Renminbi banknotes. (Photo/Xinhua)
Chinese investment web portal Eastmoney.com has come up with the nine most impressive ways the nation's entrepreneurial spirit manifests itself in a country where laws are not universally applied and where looking after oneself and one's own trumps other ethical considerations. Here are the top tips for making money "Chinese style":
1. Selling tax invoices
To avoid taxes, many enterprises in China collect tax invoices or sales receipts to deduct expenses, with some companies even requiring their staff to provide tax invoices of equivalent value before they can receive their end-of-year bonus. The sale of tax invoices and receipts has become a growing underground industry, with some vendors reportedly making several thousand dollars a month in this way.
2. Repurchasing mooncake discount coupons
Mooncakes are more widely presented as gifts than actually consumed during the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival each year and manufacturers have found a way to make extra profits without needing to go to the trouble of making any cakes. A baker can print a coupon for its mooncakes with a face value of 100 yuan (US$16.30) and sell it to a retailer for 65 yuan (US$10.60). The retailer then sells it to customer A for 80 yuan (US$13), who in turn presets it to customer B as a gift. Customer B then sells the coupon for 40 yuan (US$6.50) to a street peddler, who would in turn sells it back to the manufacturer for 50 yuan (US$8.65). The manufacturer thus makes 15 yuan (US$2.45) on the coupon and all parties are happy, having either made a small sum or given face without any actual product changing hands at any point.
Mooncakes are just one manifestation of this scheme — there is a market in China for discount coupons on most goods.
3. Counterfeit goods
From fake graduation certificates to infant formula, meat, condoms, tissues and dentures, there is nothing that can be sold that can't be counterfeited. Most fake goods are made in small underground factories or labs using low-cost materials, though skilled counterfeits have now reportedly pooled their resources and skills to turn out fake goods in bulk.
4. Mobile phone hacking
Mobile phone sellers in China have been known to pre-install certain hacking software on phones before selling them to customers to gain access to confidential information such as credit card details. Some hackers have also reportedly gained access to mobile phones remotely through apps that can effectively turn phones into "zombies."
5. Pirated software hacking
Pirated versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system — widely used in China — is particularly vulnerable. The pirated operating system can be installed with certain software that controls user activity such as automatically directing users to certain websites every time they open their browser. This allows hackers to collect money from businesses in return for feeding internet traffic to their websites.
6. Shanzhai
"Shanzhai" (literally "mountain village") has become a term applied to all manner of imitation and pirated brand goods — an extended sense of the original meaning of a bandit stronghold where the law has no sway. Shanzhai is a multimillion-dollar industry in China. Many producers start in their own homes by making imitation brand goods such as handbags, mobile phones and other electronics, and develop into major enterprises with their own factories.
7. "Masters"
In recent years, China has seen a rise in people claiming to be "masters" of a particular discipline, such as putative qigong master Wang Lin. Wang first became famous for his skills in the ways of the traditional Chinese practice that covers exercise, meditation and healing in the 1990s and developed a web of connections with celebrities such as actor Jackie Chan and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. After being condemned as a fraud in July this year, Wang fled to Hong Kong — but not before he had accumulated more than an estimated 1 billion yuan (US$163 million) in donations and product and book sales generated by his fame and connections.
8. Shopping cards
Many businesses have introduced popular pre-paid shopping cards which do not have the added security of credit or debit cards. Generally they are used for legitimate purposes but in recent years the system has become notorious as a tool of corruption, as shopping cards with large amounts of money can be given and used anonymously.
9. Spying and counterspying
From secret audio and video recording equipment to spying software that can hack into chat sessions and logs, spying and counterspying techniques have become a lucrative industry in China. There are new companies specializing in spying on marriages, business competitors and officials potentially engaged in misconduct.
