Thailand's economy is developing rapidly as a result of increased Chinese investment. Xu Wei reports from Bangkok, with Cang Wei in Hangzhou.

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series of reports focusing on the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the proposed extended trading route linking Asia, Europe and Africa.

When Xu Genluo arrived in Thailand in 2000, he barely knew anyone and spoke very little Thai. At the time, the executive with Holley Worldwide Holdings, a private developer of electrical equipment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was uncertain if his business would grow because there was little Chinese investment in the country, which styles itself "The Land of Smiles".