40 Days in Myanmar: An Early-Ended Overseas Adventure

Myanmar is not a traditional popular destination for going global.

When going global to Southeast Asia has become a consensus among Chinese entrepreneurs, Myanmar is often intentionally or unintentionally excluded from the plan. This neighboring country, which is adjacent to Yunnan and has a population of 54 million, has discouraged many ambitious global - going teams due to issues such as political instability, unstable power supply, financial controls, and backward infrastructure.

In the small county in Hunan where Wang Liang lives, people's first reaction upon hearing about Myanmar is also: telecom fraud and organ harvesting. So, when he announced in March this year that he was going to Myanmar to start a business, almost all his relatives and friends expressed concern and even opposition.

Wang Liang didn't care. This 40 - year - old middle - aged man is extremely eager for success. In the past decade or so, he has chased numerous business trends. His most recent job was as an e - commerce operator on Taobao. After receiving a salary of just over 2,000 yuan in the eighth month, he chose to resign and followed his former leader to Myanmar to engage in live - streaming e - commerce.

The boss wants to profit from the wave of new energy vehicle exports. This really intrigued Wang Liang. In the past two years, the number of new energy vehicles in the small county has increased rapidly, and charging piles and stations have also been built one after another. Going to the Southeast Asian market is more likely to reap the development dividends from scratch.

In late March, a group of four people set off. Just 40 days later, the same group returned to China. Many of the live - streaming and filming equipment they took there hadn't even been unpacked, and this global - going dream ended abruptly. However, the courage, curiosity, recklessness in this short story, and the ordinary people's yearning for a broader world are still worth recording.

Here is Wang Liang's self - narration:

Turning Point

This is my first time going abroad.

The whole decision - making process was actually quite fast. In February, I just quit my job at a local book company. At the end of the month, I heard about this opportunity. I agreed on March 7th and went to apply for a visa on the 8th.

There's no way around it. I just couldn't earn enough money back home. We sold genuine teaching - aid books on Taobao, and my salary was 10% of the performance. In the first two months after I joined, my salary was just over 1,000 yuan, and later it was only around 2,000 - 3,000 yuan. You can do the math to see how poor the business was. With this little money, it's not even enough to support myself, let alone raise a child.

The domestic e - commerce industry is extremely competitive. My experience with Taobao was all about price - cutting. Everyone was competing to offer the lowest prices, and we could only squeeze out a little profit. So, when I heard that the current boss was going global, I was really interested. I also wanted to see the opportunities outside.

He wants to export new energy vehicles and form a live - streaming sales team to go directly to Yangon. If we can reach a cooperation with a powerful Chinese - Burmese boss there, we can sell Chinese new energy vehicles in Myanmar. I'm not clear about the specific cooperation details, but my salary in the operation position is not low, with a minimum of 8,000 - 10,000 yuan. The boss said that if the business succeeds, I can get a share in the future. If it fails, we'll return to China. I thought that as long as safety is ensured, it's a win - win situation, much better than just staying in the county.

But my family was in an uproar. Their stereotype of Myanmar is "organ harvesting", and they were worried that I'd be tricked into telecom fraud and never come back. Especially my mother. She has lived in the county all her life and thinks the outside world is very dangerous.

I tried hard to explain to them: We're only going to Yangon, which was the former capital of Myanmar and is under the control of the government forces. It's very safe. Those illegal telecom fraud operations are all in northern Myanmar, and I won't go there.

I don't know if they listened. I just left. Safety and making money are things I should be responsible for myself.

To be honest, when I landed at Yangon Airport and was waiting for my Chinese - Burmese colleagues to pick me up, I was quite nervous. Everything, from the environment and weather to the language, was strange. Later, I thought that this nervousness might be more because it was my first time going abroad rather than being afraid of "organ harvesting".

Landing at Yangon Airport

There were four of us going there this time, including the boss. I'm in charge of operations, and the other two colleagues are in charge of market research and translation. There are also three Chinese - Burmese people in Myanmar, but they don't have specific tasks in the early stage. They're like local guides. Since our main task in the early stage is project investigation, if the business is feasible, the boss will raise investment, and we'll start right away.

So, despite the nervousness, I was still full of expectations when I first stood in Yangon.

Gap

My impression of Yangon is that it's like China in the 1990s.

It's about 20 kilometers from the airport to the dormitory. Along the way, I hardly saw any luxury cars. Most of the taxis were old - model Toyotas, which I rarely see in my hometown. There were also many motorcycles used as taxis on the road. They were just equipped with side seats and rain shelters, looking very shabby.

Street view on the way from the airport to the dormitory

On the way, I also saw a long queue at a gas station. This was the first time I directly felt the shortage of resources.

I asked Doubao and learned that 90% of Myanmar's oil is imported. After the conflict in the Middle East escalated in February this year, it caused a shock in the global oil supply, and Myanmar was directly affected. In March, Myanmar's Ministry of Energy introduced a new policy, restricting people to buy fuel 1 - 2 times a week according to the engine displacement of their vehicles. In addition, private cars are subject to odd - even license plate restrictions.

However, my Chinese - Burmese colleagues told me that they're already used to queuing up for fuel. There are even cases where the gas station runs out of fuel and closes early while people are still in the queue.

I thought at that time that this might be a good opportunity for the sales of new energy vehicles. What's a curse for some can be a blessing for others.

But the reality hit me hard soon. The next afternoon, there was a power outage at our dormitory. It turned out that Myanmar not only lacks oil but also electricity. During our stay in Yangon, power outages two or three times a day were normal. The most annoying thing was the power outage at night. After the cool air from the air - conditioner dissipated, I'd be woken up by the heat.

Later, I learned from the news that in Yangon, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., power is supplied in two groups on a rotating basis, usually 4 hours on and 4 hours off.

This is still relatively good. It's said that in Mandalay, the power is only supplied for 3 - 4 hours a day.

The reasons for the power and oil shortages are similar: over - dependence on imports, the collapse of the currency system and damage to infrastructure due to armed conflicts, and the priority supply of energy to the military government, etc.

I gradually realized that the business the boss wants to do might not be that easy: If the basic household electricity supply can't be guaranteed, how can Myanmar allocate surplus electricity to new energy vehicles? Without electricity, even the best new energy vehicles are just a pile of scrap metal.

But since we're here, we still have to take a look. So, in the following days, the boss went to build relationships, and we took the bus around Yangon every day to see the local new energy vehicle market while waiting for news.

The biggest feeling after the investigation is:

There are so many Chinese cars. BYD, IM, and MG are the most common Chinese brands I saw. On the one hand, Chinese cars are cheap and practical. On the other hand, it's also promoted by the government. Myanmar started promoting electric vehicles at the end of 2022 to reduce its dependence on fuel imports. In March 2025, it began to implement zero - tariff policies for battery - electric vehicles and their parts imported in the form of complete vehicles, completely knocked - down kits, and semi - knocked - down kits. This allows Chinese brands to enter the Myanmar market with a lower threshold.

In downtown Yangon, we also found a charging station for the MG brand, which is quite rare in Myanmar. I checked and found that BYD also has two charging stations operated by authorized dealers in Yangon.

The most common Chinese new energy brands seen in the charging station

It's said that 2025 was the year when the number of electric vehicle charging stations in Myanmar increased the fastest, rising from about 20 at the beginning of the year to 70 at the end of the year. Yes, you read that right. This is the number of charging stations across the whole of Myanmar.

With the small number of charging stations and short power - supply time, such infrastructure really makes me doubt the market potential for new energy vehicles here. In fact, in June last year, due to the difficulty of charging, there was a wave of car owners selling their second - hand new energy vehicles in Yangon.

From Struggle to Giving Up

We lived in a wealthy area of Yangon, in a two - story villa with a monthly rent of about 3,000 yuan.

Although it's called a villa, the conditions are actually similar to a two - story building in a Chinese rural area. There's no tap water here. The household water supply depends on well - pumping. The water is yellow and needs to be precipitated in a reservoir first and then pumped into the house with an engine. I tasted it, and it's salty.

We're all from Hunan and can't get used to Burmese food, so we cooked our own meals in the dormitory. I went to the nearby vegetable market once and never wanted to go again. It's shabby and full of flies. Walking in there, I felt like a refugee.

The hygiene environment of the vegetable market is worrying

The new energy vehicle project didn't make any progress for a long time. Later, we also discussed the business of importing and selling two - wheeled electric vehicles.

Because we found that the single - style electric vehicles that cost about 1,000 - 2,000 yuan in China are sold for 5,000 yuan in Yangon stores, with a relatively large profit margin.

In addition, electric vehicles also have commercial applications here, such as shared electric vehicles and food delivery. There's a food - delivery mini - program called "Food is Coming" developed by a Hunanese person, mainly targeting the Chinese community. The deliverymen are still using electric vehicles modified from bicycles. If we can reach a cooperation, it can help them improve efficiency.

But none of these ideas could be implemented.

In the face of the harsh reality in Myanmar, they're like castles in the air: Myanmar strictly restricts the import of complete electric vehicles, and the sales of electric vehicles assembled from imported parts highly depend on local relationships.

Food delivery doesn't require very good electric vehicles either. In a country where the average monthly salary is only 250 - 500 yuan, food delivery is a niche business. Naturally, food - delivery platforms don't have enough motivation to purchase electric vehicles to improve the user experience.

The business logic of shared electric vehicles also doesn't work here because there are enough cheap and convenient motorcycle rentals.

Yangon is very hot, but the longer I stayed, the colder I felt inside. This was also the first time I realized that any good business can't survive without a suitable environment. Going global is not that easy. A business that works in China may not work abroad.

By the end of April, the boss basically gave up on this project. It's equivalent to spending more than 100,000 yuan to organize a team to go abroad for market research. We comforted ourselves by saying that it was like a paid trip. There was a Water - Splashing Festival in Myanmar in April, and we also experienced the local festive atmosphere.

But I don't regret my decision to come here.

In Yangon, I also observed what businesses the Chinese - Burmese people are engaged in and found that relationships are very important. Most of the factories and supermarkets of a certain scale here are equipped with generators, and those who do the generator business are basically Chinese - Burmese bosses in the same circle.

There are also some tricks in Chinese - Burmese supermarkets. Many Chinese betel nuts and cigarettes sold here can be regarded as "branded products". They look very similar to domestic brands but are much more expensive than in China. Some products are obviously illegally imported. I bought a pack of Chen Keming noodles for more than 40 yuan. The outer packaging is all in Chinese, and it's obvious that it didn't come through the regular export channel.

During my more than 40 days in Yangon, I rarely talked to local Chinese - Burmese people. I just observed secretly. Because everyone believes that in Myanmar, Chinese people cheat Chinese people. Even though the gold shops, restaurants, and supermarkets run by Chinese - Burmese people seem to be legitimate businesses on the surface, there may be a lot of hidden secrets behind them, such as money - laundering through illegal channels.

Although we didn't make any money on this trip abroad and our live - streaming equipment didn't even have a chance to be unpacked, I was still quite happy when we decided to return to China in May.

To be honest, I didn't think I was very patriotic before. After living in Yangon for 40 days, this feeling became very strong. I've seen some young people who came to Yangon from northern Myanmar to make a living. Some of them are descendants of the Expeditionary Force, and some of their ancestors immigrated there during the Republic of China. Now, for the sake of livelihood, they leave their hometowns and come to Yangon. If they can speak Chinese, they can find a job with a monthly salary of about 1,000 yuan. This is the best life they can have.

We're all human beings, but because of the different countries we're born in, our lives are completely different.

After seeing these hardships and returning to China, I felt much more relaxed. I didn't go back to my hometown county but stayed in Changsha to look for new opportunities. It's still difficult to make money, but at least the power supply is stable, the water is sweet, and I don't have to be afraid even if I go out at 2 a.m.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Shannongxiashan", written by Yuan Wen, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.