A blood-and-tears story of cross-border e-commerce. If anything sounds familiar, take it personally!
From uncertain steps out of a poor mountain village to Shenzhen's Luohu Station, to the dust settling over warehouses in Huaqiangbei; from the heady highs of his first taste of Amazon's boom to the bone-chilling plunge into the abyss when the platform's iron fist crushed him for taking the “shortcut” of buying fake orders. He built his business up three times, and watched it collapse twice. Each “fall” came with the finality of selling off property, the din of suppliers demanding repayment, and the few tens of thousands of yuan in his father's silent passbook, still warm with his body heat and smelling of soil: “As long as you're alive, that's what matters.”
Shenzhen, this city of miracles, was both his battleground and his mirror. The rough-and-ready world of Huaqiangbei, the rise of the Science and Technology Park, Qianhai's ambitions, the soaring bridge of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link... The city's skyline grew at a dizzying pace behind him, reflecting the rise and fall of his business. He engaged in listing hijacking and drank the poisoned wine of fake orders. He nearly lost himself in the bubble of capital, but after two devastating account bans and a blizzard that almost swallowed everything, he finally understood: glamour fades quickly. Only by putting down roots in the frozen ground of products and supply chains, and keeping a steady hand on the scales of honesty and rules, can you survive the deep waters of global competition.
