The cybermart on Huaihai Road, a busy, relatively up-market hub in Shanghai, is a perfect example. It was mentioned by Kotaku as a great spot to buy games in 2013, and even further back, in 2008, as a black market "
eagerly awaiting" the new iPhone. It's an open secret - even my translator knew the spot - and it functions more or less as any other department store would in the light of day, with a disinterested police car parked not two doors down.
As Niko's Ahmad [ZhugeEx], put it to me: actually buying and selling games that directly contradict government regulations is "a grey area... it's not illegal in that you won't go to prison for it, or get fined for it, but it's something that the government wouldn't want to happen." Inside the Huaihai cybermart you'll find a wall of Xbox consoles and games, that looks just as any featured wall would in your local GAME or GameStop, while tablets and laptops are laid out on white, underlit tables, like you'd find them in PC World.