Because C-Fans are rich, dedicated and loyal AF. A deadly combo that all Kpop companies want.
At first I didn’t get why SM tries so hard to enter the Chinese market.... but after seeing what fans do for Renjun, Taeyong and Winwin, I now understand.
Just take what Renjun did for Reload. Even for a less promoted member, he’s the best selling member in China out of everyone in NCT. His Chinese fanbase took up 82k of the album sales, like ONE fan literally donated 45,000 worth of US dollars for one comeback....and accumulating all of Dream’s Chinese preorders, it was about 300k more or less... All for a mini-album. They did so much for Renjun more than SM can ever do. They also promote Renjun so much in China.
Even for a non-Chinese member like Taeyong whose Chinese fanbase has basically spent millions to promote him on his birthday everywhere in Asia. Why are they so rich???!
The top NCT members in China that you listed (would add Jaemin by the way, he’s only behind Renjun in Dream, and probably on the same level as Taeyong in NCT overall) only started to experience the big scale support since last year, but boy, the top EXO members in China (most notably Sehun, Chanyeol and Baekhyun) been having that insane support for years. And SM just raking in the profits.
This extends to the girl groups as well.... they've seen massive bumps in album sales, partly driven by cfans.SNSD,BLACKPINK,T-ARA,G-IDLE,RV...