Why are Chinese people always the main characters in the gray industry circle in Southeast Asia?

Is it intelligence? Is it bravery? Or is it desperation?

In Southeast Asia, gambling, telecom fraud, virtual trading, money laundering, and gray technology are almost everywhere. At the front and back ends of these industrial chains, you will discover an interesting fact:

From the operators to the investors, the majority are Chinese.

The underlying reasons cannot be simply explained by "smart and bold."

1. Why do Chinese dominate the gray market?

- Quick response and keen business sense

Chinese are extremely sensitive to policy and market changes. They quickly identify where regulations are loose and where money can be made fast, and they immediately establish a strategy.

- Willing to take risks, not afraid to lose

The essence of gray markets is gambling: gambling on policies, profits, and how long they can last. Many people, coming from ordinary or even poor backgrounds, are willing to pay any price to turn their lives around.

- Complete industrial chain

Programmers, marketing channels, servers, payment interfaces, scripts, accounts, logistics... Chinese can manage all aspects needed for gray production. They can even set up teams and assembly lines like formal companies.

- "Adaptable environment" in Southeast Asia

The language barrier is low, law enforcement is lax, there are many regulatory loopholes, and local costs are low. For Chinese, it is much easier to establish operations here than in Europe, America, Japan, or Korea.

2. Why is it often said that "the Chinese gray market is not united"?

This is almost a consensus within the industry: once trouble arises, everyone scatters and fights individually.

- Highly utilitarian

From the beginning, everyone is focused on "quick and easy" gains. Cooperation is only temporary; when risks arise, the first consideration is always self-preservation.

- Lack of common bonds

Unlike some foreign organizations supported by religion, ethnicity, or kinship, the Chinese gray market is more about piecing together interests. Once interests change, relationships disintegrate.

- Severe internal competition

With many people and even more intelligent individuals, everything from promotion to commissions to tools is highly competitive. There is even mutual reporting, undermining, and stepping on competitors to gain an advantage.

3. Conclusion: Intelligence is a tool, lack of unity is a fatal flaw

Chinese are smart enough to run gray markets like "corporations"; they are also ruthless enough to dare to be the first to venture overseas.

However, gray markets are not a long-term plan.

Lacking trust, rules, and unity, no amount of intelligence can withstand a major setback.

Intelligence might earn quick money, but unity can sustain longer survival.