In addition, China and Russia are geographically close, which makes it easy and cheap to travel across the border. Russian visa policies at that time were also relatively loose, which enabled foreigners to travel in Russia easily. To do transnational profiteer, daoye usually bought cheap light industrial products (like clothes and shoes) and food (such as candies) in China and take the train from Beijing to Moscow. When the train entered Russia, they would sell their products to Russians in one station after another at a very high price. They also would buy Russian products (typically, they were military products or fur) on the way back and sell them in China. In the process, they could earn enormous profits due to the differences of product prices in Russia and China. Generally, after the dissolution of USSR, this trade alleviated the shortage of agricultural and light industrial products in Russia. Russian products and raw materials were also important complements for the industrial development of China at that time. However, this massive but nonstandard trading development created several serious problems, which then caused crises in non-governmental trade. Firstly, the economic and political environment of Russia was chaotic and unfriendly to foreigners, which, together with the activity of gangs, violated the legal rights and security of Chinese people and companies: local Russian officials and police usually asked for bribes from Chinese businessmen and they did little to prevent business people from being robbed. Secondly, many products sold to Russia, like down jackets and shoes, were pinchbeck and low-quality, which made Russians hostile to Chinese and Chinese products. Finally, the Russian government set high tariffs on imported products----it also took several initiatives to eliminate tax evasion. As a result, the total amounts of Sino-Russian trade stopped increasing from 1994 to 1999. The economic crisis and the collapse of ruble in 1998 also made the bad worse. Among the early daoye who latter formed China’s first post-revolutionary wealthy class, Mou Qizhong is the undoubtedly the most famous and controversial figure, variously described as the “number one rich man” and the “number one cheat”. Born in 1940, Mou was the son of a capitalist financier from Sichuan Province. His bad “class background” meant that he was denied the right to complete college. During the ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution, Mou became disillusioned with China’s direction and wrote an essay titled “Where Is China Heading?” which, at least, headed him straight to jail.