China has a long history of gray-market financing flowing from small, informal and unregulated groups, to sectors not well covered by Banks.

But since the same model was selling last week in Beijing for nearly twice the price, Mongkok remains the champion of low-priced gray-market gadgets in Asia.

Gray-market lenders are often established, though technically illegal, financial institutions that lend primarily working-capital loans at rates as high as 10 percent a month.