The "turbo-capitalism" in China offers a small elite the quick chance of great wealth.
The entrepreneur Robert Rother from Germany also used the wave and lived the luxury life of a businessman there.
But with his success he challenged the Chinese regime, just like Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who was thought to have disappeared for several months and now reported back in a video message.
Rother knows how the Chinese government deals with someone who no longer wants to be controlled: he almost died doing it.