We didn't build a company. We put a name on something that was already working.
China Shortcut exists because people kept asking us for help — and we realised what we were doing had a name.
A path, not a plan
Focșani — the start
01Alina grew up in a small Romanian town. Nothing pointed toward China — and that is exactly where it began.
China — immersion
留学She arrived out of curiosity, not on a corporate posting. She studied there, lived there, and learned how people think, what they trust, how they negotiate.
The return
回国03She came back to Romania with something few have: she genuinely understood both sides — not just the language, but how trust works on each shore.
Mihnea — the structure
架构The partner who could take what Alina's network produced and build something scalable. Structured thinking, business architecture — the discipline that turns relationships into a system.
China Shortcut is born
They were already doing the work — they just hadn't called it a company yet. So they did.
My superpower is connecting people across industries and cultures. I have spent years building a list of people in every field — and that list is the real product of China Shortcut.
What "networking" actually means for our clients
Every trade and logistics company says they have connections. We mean something specific. Alina's network was built across three distinct worlds that almost never overlap:
Student years in China
求学The friendships from university in China are now senior managers, factory owners, and government contacts. Built before anyone was trying to sell anything.
Corporate experience
企业Years across multiple industries — import/export, logistics, trade compliance — means the right person is one message away for almost any problem a client brings.
Volunteer work
公益Art, events, humanitarian. The people you meet doing voluntary work are not the same people you meet in boardrooms. Together, they cover everything.
The specialisations — logistics, customs, trade facilitation, AI-powered compliance — came later, built on top of the network. The network came first. That order matters: our solutions come from real relationships, not vendor directories.
The founders
Alina
The ability to walk into any room — in any country, in any industry — and leave with a genuine connection.
From Focșani to China and back — Alina's path was never the obvious one, which is exactly why it works. She has lived the Romania-China journey personally, before it was a business model.
Years of corporate work across multiple industries, volunteer work in arts, events and humanitarian projects, and student life in China produced something rare: a network with no ceiling and no single sector.
When people ask how China Shortcut gets things done that others can't — the answer is almost always a phone call to someone Alina has known for years.
„I never set out to build a trade company. I set out to help people. The company is just what happened when too many people needed the same kind of help.”
Mihnea
Turning a network and a vision into a business that actually runs.
Where Alina brings the connections, Mihnea brings the architecture. The systems, the structure, the discipline to take what's working informally and build something that scales.
China Shortcut works because both halves are present: the human network and the business engine that puts it to work for clients.
„The demand was already there. We just had to be honest about what we were doing and build something worthy of the trust people were already giving us.”
What we are actually selling
Not a service catalogue. Not a price list. Access — to the right factory, the right customs specialist, the right Romanian lawyer, the right Chinese logistics contact, at the right moment.
That access took years to build. It cannot be replicated by a company that launches a website and lists “China sourcing” as a service. The shortcut in our name is real: it is the years we already spent, so you don't have to.
„We are a shortcut for everyone who wants to start something in China or Romania. The specialisations came later — but networking is what makes it work.”
Ready to take the shortcut?
Tell us what you're trying to do. We probably know someone who can help.
Get in touch