Conversation

02.16.24

It’s Grim out There: China’s Economy in the Year of the Dragon

Anne Stevenson-Yang, Zongyuan Zoe Liu & more
Some observers have been predicting an economic collapse in China for decades. Others have long predicted that China would be stuck in a middle-income trap or some other type of economic stagnation. Might some of these predictions come true this...

Features

07.10.23

For Beijing, Putting People Back to Work May Prove a Tough Job

Eva Xiao
In a small Chinese town where unemployment has run high during the COVID-19 pandemic, the local government has embraced a surprising remedy to joblessness: public toilets. Fugong Village, in Guangdong province, usually sees nearly half of its small...

Conversation

10.11.22

On the Eve of the Party Congress, What’s Ahead for China’s Economy?

Guonan Ma, Ryan Hass & more
Three years of zero-COVID and a lingering property crisis have taken a toll on China’s economy. What are the prospects for an economic turnaround in the coming months? And if it doesn’t come to pass, what will a slowing economy spell for the Party’s...

As Trump’s Tariffs Start to Bite, China Pledges It’ll Keep Its Economy Stable

Huileng Tan
CNBC
In a statement carried by China’s state media after a meeting of the Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, Beijing said it will take targeted measures to solve issues in the economy. The Chinese economy is facing “some...

How China's Financial Cracks Could Spread

Aaron Back
Wall Street Journal
Can financial turmoil in China play havoc with the rest of the world? It has already happened.

Alibaba Earnings Show It Again Defying China’s Slowdown

Paul Mozur
New York Times
Amid concerns about a slowdown of Chinese economic growth, China’s largest e-commerce company is showing that business on its platforms is holding steady

Caixin Media

10.12.16

Government Should Kick Land Sale Addiction to Cure Overheated Property Market

Chinese cities have rolled out new measures over the past week to cool a home-buying frenzy that has seen prices skyrocket, marking a new round of tightening since policies were eased two years ago. More than a dozen of China's largest cities,...

Road to Stagnation? China Inc Gets a Break From Lenders

Umesh Desai
Reuters
China may be in for a long period of Japan-like stagnation rather than a single event triggering a crisis

Mixed Messages

Economist
A missed opportunity to improve the environment for foreign companies in China

Relax, China’s Banks Aren’t About to Have a Meltdown

Tom Holland
South China Morning Post
There are reasons to be worried about China’s debt, but the risk of a 2008-style crisis is not one of them.

China Spends More in the World than the World Spends in China

BBC
For the first time, Chinese companies have invested more abroad than foreign companies have invested in China

China Shares Hit Seven-Month High; World Yields Keep Falling

Marc Jones
Reuters
Chinese stocks helped offset news that Japan’s economic growth had ground to a halt.

China Exports Slide on Weak Demand

Mark Magnier
Wall Street Journal
Global uncertainty and headwinds continue to buffet the world’s second-largest economy.

China Private-Investment Slowdown Fuels Fears of Weaker Growth

Mark Magnier
Wall Street Journal
Data hints at an even more unfavoring second quarter than the first....

Viewpoint

05.26.16

China and the End of Reform

Thomas Kellogg
Is the Chinese Communist Party putting an end to the decades-long process of China’s opening to the outside world? Is the era of liberal reform over? Consider the latest piece of evidence: on April 28, the Standing Committee of the National People’s...

Conversation

05.24.16

How Much Debt Is Too Much in China?

Yukon Huang, Houze Song & more
In the first quarter of 2016, Chinese debt rose to 237 percent of GDP—a level comparable to that of the U.S. or the Eurozone and yet much larger than that of most developing economies, according to analysis by The Financial Times. Additionally,...

Media

05.12.16

The End of China’s Economic Miracle? A Discussion with ‘Financial Times’ Writers

George Soros, Jamil Anderlini & more
On April 20, 2016, a panel of Financial Times correspondents and editors with China experience, joined by financier and occasional FT columnist George Soros, discussed rural-to-urban migration, wage growth, real estate ups and downs, the increasing...

Caixin Media

04.05.16

No Point in Ramping Up Personal Debt to Help Property Market

Having banks and local governments deleverage and trim overcapacity are part and parcel with central government efforts to maintain stable growth by nurturing the supply side of the economy. But even as this is happening, the housing market has been...

Viewpoint

03.24.16

Why China’s Economy Can’t Collapse

from Radio Free Asia
China’s economic outlook once again became the focus of attention for many last week. For one thing, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) listed the possibility of a hard landing for China’s economy as the topmost of the world’s top 10 risks. There...

As Economy Worsens, Chinese Migrants in Africa Confront New Challenges

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Thousands of Chinese migrants who settled in Africa over the past 10 years now face mounting uncertainty as economic growth slows across the continent and back home in China. While there are no reliable estimates as to how many Chinese migrants...

Caixin Media

02.19.16

Central Bank Governor on Reforming the Exchange Rate, Adopting a Digital Currency

Recently Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, had an interview with Caixin and talked about the yuan exchange rate regime reform, macro-prudential policy framework, digital currency, and other topics...

Caixin Media

02.01.16

Tough Times call for Tougher Reform Push

Beijing has has done a good job in terms of industrializing the country but will face unprecedented challenges when dealing with a service-driven economy.

Reports

02.01.16

Xi Jinping on the Global Stage

Robert D. Blackwill and Kurt M. Campbell
Council on Foreign Relations
Xi Jinping is the most powerful Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping, and with his sweeping actions and ambitious directives he has fundamentally altered the process by which China’s domestic and foreign policy is formulated and implemented. Xi’s...

Sinica Podcast

01.29.16

The China Meltdown

Jeremy Goldkorn, Kaiser Kuo & more from Sinica Podcast
[—Editors note: this podcast was recorded on January 18, 2016]With equity markets in free fall, housing prices skipping downwards, foreign reserves plummeting, and industrial production on a road trip back to the last decade, it’s no surprise...

Conversation

01.27.16

Is George Soros Right that China’s Headed for a Hard Landing?

Arthur R. Kroeber, Stephen S. Roach & more
On Tuesday in an article headlined, “Declaring War on China’s Currency? Ha ha,” the People’s Daily attacked billionaire investor George Soros for suggesting he might short the renminbi. The Chinese currency has dropped 5.7 percent since August when...

China’s Obsolete Economic Strategy

The Editorial Board
New York Times
China has changed dramatically over 30 years, and command-and-control economic management will not produce the results of the past.

China's Markets—A Sharp Reminder on Reform

Australian Financial Review
The old command model has reached its limits: if China wants things to stay the same, it will have to change. 

Greece-Sized China Outflows Highlight Policy Maker Challenge

Enda Curran
Bloomberg
Investors are rushing money out of China as yuan weakens to lowest point since August.

China Stocks Hit Hard, Rest of World Shrugs

David Gaffen
Reuters
Chinese shares slumped 5 percent on Friday, hit by regulatory and industrial sector worries, but the declines did not carry through to other major equity markets.

Conversation

11.02.15

How Far Have China’s Economic Reforms Come over the Past Year?

Houze Song & Arthur R. Kroeber
As the Chinese Communist Party leadership wrapped up its Fifth Plenum, the meeting at which the Party’s leadership set the Five Year Plan that will shape economic policy through 2020, what progress has been made on the “comprehensive deepening” of...

Caixin Media

10.13.15

Insider Trading Is Hindering Development of Stock Market

A series of investigations into apparent market violations emerged after the recent stock market turmoil, bringing down Zhang Yujun, an assistant chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC); Cheng Boming, general manager of CITIC...

Xi Goes to Washington: 4 Problems for the U.S. and China

Charles Riley
CNN
Already, there's drama, drama, drama.

China’s Economic Crisis Ripples at Area Colleges

Laura Krantz and Jacqueline Tempera
Boston Globe
As of last year, more than 13,000 Chinese students were attending college in Boston, out of a total of 44,000 foreign students in the city.

As Economy Falters, Military Parade Offers Chance to Burnish China’s Image

Andrew Jacobs
New York Times
China celebrates a new national holiday to honor the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

China’s Stocks Cap Biggest Selloff Since 2008 on Rescue Doubts

Enda Curran
Bloomberg
Bearish options market bets climbed as traders weighed level of state support before a World War II parade this week.

China Punishes Nearly 200 Over ‘Rumors’ About Stocks, Blasts and Parade

Edward Wong
New York Times
The moves indicate the political sensitivities aggravated in recent weeks by several volatile issues.

Media

08.26.15

Mapping Fallout From ‘Black Monday’: Who Was Hardest Hit?

David Wertime
August 24, which some have already dubbed “Black Monday,” was not a kind day to global equity markets. The rout began with a massive sell-off in China, where the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 8.49 percent in just one day. Those losses...

China’s Complexity Problem

Stephen S. Roach
Project Syndicate
The challenge for Xi Jinping is to prioritize plentiful political will in a way that keeps China on the course of reform and rebalancing.

Who Loses Most from Chaos in China—And Some Possible Silver Linings

Washington Post
The panic may weaken demand for U.S. exports. But that could make some goods cheaper for consumers.

What’s Scarier Than a Strong China? A Weak China.

Joshua Keating
Slate
When China actually does take a tumble, Americans feel it in their pocketbooks and portfolios.

China Shares Brush New Low Since Depth of Selloff

Mark Magnier and Chao Deng
Wall Street Journal
Shanghai Composite closes down 4.3%, a fraction above July 8 low.

China Seeks to Calm Markets as It Devalues Currency for 3rd Consecutive Day

Neil Gough
New York Times
Since Tuesday, the currency, the renminbi, has fallen 4.4 percent, the biggest drop in decades.

Bearish Bets Multiply as China Slows

Henry Sender
Financial Times
A slowdown in China is harder for its trading partners and manufacturing competitors than it is for China itself.

China Shares Post Biggest One-Day Gain in a Month

Chao Deng
Wall Street Journal
Weak economic data boosts stimulus hopes; investors signal confidence in Beijing’s support.

Caixin Media

08.03.15

Villain or Hero for Stock Market Saga?

An obscure equities-trading finance agency that brokers often slighted in favor of bank loans has suddenly taken center stage in the drama playing out in the stock market.But reviews are mixed over whether the four-year-old, quasi-governmental China...

China Shares Suffer Worst Month in Nearly Six Years

Chao Deng
Wall Street Journal
Shaken confidence in Beijing’s role in market led to wild swings in recent days.

Chinese Stocks Rise as Shenzen Gains 20% on July Low

Chao Deng
MarketWatch
Pressure remains from a continuing unwinding of leveraged positions and analysts said they aren’t optimistic about cash-backed state support.

Caixin Media

07.20.15

How Beijing Intervened to Save China’s Stocks

Top executives from 21 securities firms spent the morning of Saturday July 4 pinned to government office chairs while the future of China’s stock markets hung in the balance.They’d been summoned on a day off to the Beijing office of the China...

Why China’s Sock Market Bubble Was Always Bound to Burst

Orville Schell
Guardian
The sudden collapse of the nation’s share boom left tens of millions of investors in shock. But a massive government intervention to prop up the market has laid bare the contradictions of a capitalist China.

Caixin Media

06.17.15

Is China Knocking on Deflation’s Door?

China’s last war against deflation was waged in 1998, the year the nation’s consumer price index and producer price index suddenly plunged in tandem.The central government responded by launching economic and administrative reforms, hastening steps...

China’s Economy: A Slower Slowdown

Simon Rabinovich
Economist
It's been nearly six months since China began easing monetary policy and there's little sign of a rebound in growth.

China Rethinks Safety Net for Its Banking System

Neil Gough
New York Times
New deposit insurance could shake the public’s faith in the long-held belief in failsafe government bailouts.

China Employment Resilient Despite Slower Economic Growth

Kevin Yao
Reuters
The world's No. 2 economy created 3.24M new jobs in Q1, down from 3.44 million during the same period last year. 

Conversation

04.16.15

How Much Consumerism Can China Afford?

Andrew Batson & Matthew Crabbe
This week, a blockbuster movie celebrating speedy cars and the racing life landed atop China’s box office. The Hollywood import Fast and Furious 7 grossed $63 million in one day (as reported by Bloomberg), the most-ever for a single title in that...

BMW China Dealers Press Auto Maker for More Financial Support

Rose Yu and Colum Murphy
Wall Street Journal
In letter to German luxury car maker, dealers call on BMW to set more realistic sales targets.

China’s G.D.P. Slows to 7 Percent, the Weakest Rate Since 2009

Neil Gough
New York Times
China’s G.D.P. Slows to 7 Percent, the Weakest Rate Since 2009 

Hank Paulson: Economic Challenges, China — and the Birds

Susan Page
USA Today
Paulson says the United States needs a clear-eyed, coordinated, consistent approach to the formidable challenge from China.

China’s March Exports Shrink 15 Percent Year-on-Year in Shock Fall

Koh Gui Qing and Kevin Yao
Reuters
The tumble could heighten worries about how a rising yuan hurt demand for Chinese goods and services abroad.

We Traveled Across China and Returned Terrified for the Economy

Timothy Coulter
Bloomberg
China’s steel and metals markets, a barometer of the world’s second-biggest economy, are “a lot worse than you think.”

China’s Zhou Says PBOC Has Room to Act on Growth Slowdown

Malcolm Scott
Bloomberg
The central bank chief's remarks follow China's weakest expansion since 1990.