Tuhu is here, and that's exactly why we shouldn't copy them
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
A few days ago a friend sent me a news story: Tuhu, the Chinese car-servicing chain, has officially entered Malaysia, aiming to reshape the local car repair scene with "online booking, standardised service, and genuine parts direct from source".
He asked me a very direct question: "Chinese companies are coming to take the market. What do you make of it?"
I thought I'd see it as just another ordinary case of business expansion. But as it happened, just before that I had read an article about China's economic structure, The China Model's Fatal Flaw.
Tuhu coming to Malaysia isn't simply a company going overseas. It's an extension of a deeper logic of the times, the result of a whole system pushing it.
The logic of scale first
Many people think "Chinese companies are expanding around the world" because they're strong. But what the article reveals isn't about strength. It's the inevitable result of institutional incentives. In China, local government tax revenue comes from where things are produced, officials are judged on GDP, investment and employment targets, and banks prefer "visible assets": the bigger the factory, the more machines, the higher the capacity, the easier it is to get loans and resources. Companies survive not by chasing profit but by chasing scale; not because demand is strong, but because the system pushes them.
In other words, in an ecosystem like this, companies don't expand to "grow". They expand to "stay alive". There can be no profit, cash flow can be thin, orders can be taken at a loss, but scale can't stop.
When a country's political structure, tax system, financial system and performance reviews all tilt towards "scale first", companies are naturally pushed to charge ahead. The faster they charge, the better their chance to survive; stopping means being eliminated.
So when you see Tuhu arrive in Malaysia, it looks like a business choice, but it's really the inevitable overflow of capacity.
It isn't that the market here is so big. It's that capacity in China has grown so big it has to go somewhere. They aren't coming because they want to. They're coming because they have to.
That's the logic of the times.
That's exactly why we shouldn't copy them
Many people worry: "So what happens to local businesses? Will we be squeezed to death?"
I actually think fear isn't the answer. Seeing the real problem clearly is the only way to survive. This institutional overcapacity has no short-term solution. It won't stop by itself, won't suddenly become rational, and won't slow down because of how the outside world reacts. As long as the underlying drive doesn't change, the cycle of "frantic capacity building → overflow expansion → thin-margin competition" will continue.
And that's exactly why we shouldn't copy them.
Growing a company is a lot like raising a child.
A child doesn't get smarter the more tuition classes you pile on, and doesn't have a better future the more knowledge you cram in. What a child needs most is to grow up happy, build good habits, form the right values, and see parents leading by example.
A child pushed to run too fast eventually loses interest in learning. A child scheduled until they can't breathe won't grow up truly strong.
Companies are the same.
Not every acceleration is good, and not every booster brings growth. Grow up in too much of a hurry and you grow out of shape. Expand too hard and you'll only crush yourself in the end. Overly aggressive growth may become the most painful bill you pay later.
What we want isn't to grab the short-term view, but to live long, live steady, and live healthy.
The ones who run the longest
If anything, I worry about the companies that charge too fast. At first they look unstoppable: strong momentum, astonishing expansion, aggressive tactics, very low prices. But you'll also see some run out of strength halfway. Not because the market rejected them, but because their own pace dragged them down.
What a company should fear most isn't a strong rival. It's not being able to hold itself up.
So, "how should we see Chinese companies coming to take the market?"
My answer now is actually very simple.
Look at your own cash flow, rhythm and value.
We don't need to out-crazy anyone, and we don't need to compete on expansion. What we need to protect is our own steadiness, our own moat, our own uniqueness.
When others are charging ahead with everything they've got, that's your time to keep breathing, keep your rhythm, and keep your long-term value.
The ones who last in the end aren't the fastest, but the ones who run the longest, the steadiest, and with the most meaning.