One netizen shares the side hustles they’ve done over the years, and actually made money
1. Running PCDN—I first got into this around 2021 when I was mining. At the time, I was worried about network surveillance detecting my mining activity, so I connected a Wangxinyun box to each broadband line, thinking it would confuse things. It didn't. After mining was banned, I kept the broadband connections and started using them to push upload bandwidth. But regulation has gotten very strict—new broadband accounts are definitely going to get banned. I had to file complaints for over a month straight just to get mine unblocked, and I haven't been banned since.
At first I bought Wangxinyun boxes directly. With a single residential line offering 50Mbps upload, I was only making 1–2 RMB per day. After learning that other platforms offered better returns—and that you just needed to flash the Wangxinyun box without any extra investment—I switched platforms. After the switch, a single line could earn 3–5 RMB per day. Ten lines bring me around 40–50 RMB daily. I think this is an industry built on relationships: if you have connections that let you get cheap broadband without getting banned, you can make money. Without connections, you'll be online one day and banned the next. One final reminder—Wangxinyun's IPs have already been blacklisted by operators. As soon as you go online, you'll get banned. Switch providers as soon as possible.
The platform that still works reasonably well right now is JD's—can help offset some broadband costs
2. Selling data SIM cards. Honestly, it's the same work as running PCDN, but when I first started I thought, "If I have to promote and sell each card myself, that's too much effort," so I didn't want to do it. Later I discovered that some data SIM platforms allow you to recruit downline agents and take a cut of their commissions. I managed to get top-level agent access and started posting online to attract downlines. So far I've recruited around 2,000 agents.
But the market is currently saturating and regulation is tightening. The upside is zero upfront cost—sell a card and you get paid.
3. Shopping cashback. JD, Taobao, and PDD all have their own cashback platforms. There are tools that can connect to these APIs so you can attract people to click your links and make purchases, earning you commissions. I use a free tool called Wangcaigou. If you're just using it yourself, you can also manually convert links through the apps. JD's program is called Jingfen, Taobao's is Taobao Alliance, and PDD's is Duoduo Jinbao.
This requires some technical know-how, and the biggest challenge is figuring out how to attract people to use your shopping links. You need eyeballs before you can earn. I used JD's Qinglong panel service combined with the cashback program to draw people in.
4. Selling pirated movies. I got into this somewhat accidentally. I had some familiarity with the film industry from working in cinemas back in the day, and I noticed that PDD's enforcement on this was pretty lax. In 2021 I opened a store on PDD selling pirated movies, pricing each title between 0.5 and 5.5 RMB, paired with an automated delivery tool. Basically fully automatic—just handle customer service. The key is having the movie resources. At first I sourced from various cloud drive collections and made a few dozen RMB per day. But that wasn't exciting enough. During the National Day holiday, I bought a few recently released popular movies online, edited them manually myself. Because the demand was so hot and my copies were essentially exclusive, the best day I made over 50,000 RMB on a single title priced at 5.8 RMB. Eventually PDD banned my store, so I never actually collected that money.
The upside is basically infinite return on investment—or rather, zero investment for massive returns. The downside is you can go to jail, plus a fine of up to five times the illegal gains. This is clearly gray-market activity. Don't do it.
5. Finally, my main side hustle: working as a tour guide. Yes, you read that right. Not online income—actual offline work. My full-time job doesn't require me to work on weekends, and I have a tour guide certificate. I also did this back in college, so it was a natural fit. My county is a small tourist destination, and on weekends I do local ground arrangements or lead two-day group tours. Two days can net me 500–1,000 RMB.
6. Another one: assembling computers for people. I post on Xianyu offering local on-site assembly and cable management. Inside the county I charge from 188 RMB; outside the county from 288 RMB. I typically get four or five jobs a month, and it gets busier during Double 11 and 618. This one really just requires basic hand skills and zero investment. Plus, I genuinely enjoy building PCs—it gives me a real sense of accomplishment.