Conversation
02.16.24![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/55196_sm.jpg?itok=Rh17zxhJ)
It’s Grim out There: China’s Economy in the Year of the Dragon
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...
Viewpoint
11.07.23![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/55041_sm.jpg?itok=bBxSC8-l)
China-Saudi RMB Settlement Will Insulate the Oil Trade from U.S. Sanctions
In recent years, Beijing has made efforts to facilitate the settlement of China-Saudi oil trade in renminbi (RMB) rather than in U.S. dollars, a move that would steel China’s trade from financial sanctions and disrupt the global market for oil.
Excerpts
05.19.23![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/54786_sm.jpg?itok=y9qcNbt5)
Can Chinese Payment Apps Gain Traction Globally?
Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is a global phenomenon. Yet, for every TikTok, there is a WeChat, an app that is ubiquitous in China but that has failed to catch fire abroad. WeChat is just one of many Chinese apps incorporating financial...
Viewpoint
01.26.23![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/54526_sm.jpg?itok=373Hvy7s)
What Impact Would a U.S. Debt Default Have on China?
The big political drama in Washington in the next few months will be the fight over the federal debt ceiling. The worst-case scenario is that Congress refuses to raise the ceiling and the U.S. Treasury defaults on its debt. Since U.S. treasury debt...
Conversation
03.11.21![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/gettyimages-1227841882.jpg?itok=16svhHrj)
Hong Kong’s Economic Future
If conventional wisdom held that China would never risk Hong Kong’s market, that was predicated on a specter of a foreign financial exodus. When the national security law was promulgated, experts warned of an international withdrawal and an end to...
The China Africa Project
05.17.19![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/china-company-sys.jpg?itok=Aj8yA6cR)
Why China’s ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ Critics Are Wrong
China’s critics, led largely by the United States, are determined to warn developing countries about the risks of borrowing too much money from Beijing. They contend China will use these loans to financially entrap economically vulnerable countries...
ChinaFile Recommends
08.06.18China Millennials’ Love of Credit Cards Raises Debt Fears
Financial Times
Mr Wang is part of a generation of young consumers who have rejected the thrifty habits of their elders and become used to spending with borrowed money. Outstanding consumer loans — used for vehicle purchases, holidays, household renovations and...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.17.18From Folk Singer to International Finance Expert - Liao Min Is a New Face on China’s Trade Team in Washington
South China Morning Post
On the official list of the Beijing delegation that arrived in Washington on Tuesday for trade talks, there is a new name.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.13.18U.S. Considered Blacklisting Two Chinese Banks over North Korea Ties
Bloomberg
U.S. officials alarmed by public displays of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile technology last summer considered taking the provocative step of blacklisting two of China’s biggest banks from the U.S. financial system for doing business with North...
Books
04.12.18![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/books/system/dinny-sys_1.jpg?itok=g2TgAKdc)
![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/assets/images/books/covers/dinny_mcmahon_cover.jpg)
China’s Great Wall of Debt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Over the course of a decade spent reporting on the ground in China as a financial journalist, Dinny McMahon gradually came to the conclusion that the widely held belief in China’s inevitable economic ascent is dangerously wrong.In this unprecedented deep dive, McMahon shows how, lurking behind the illusion of prosperity, China’s economic growth has been built on a staggering mountain of debt. While stories of newly built but empty cities, white elephant state projects, and a byzantine shadow banking system have all become a regular fixture in the press in recent years, McMahon goes beyond the headlines to explain how such waste has been allowed to flourish, and why one of the most powerful governments in the world has been at a loss to stop it.Through the stories of ordinary Chinese citizens, McMahon tries to make sense of the unique—and often bizarre—mechanics of the Chinese economy, whether it be the state’s addiction to appropriating land from poor farmers, why a Chinese entrepreneur decided it was cheaper to move his yarn factory to South Carolina, why ambitious Chinese mayors build ghost cities, or why the Chinese bureaucracy was able to stare down Beijing’s attempts to break up the state’s pointless monopoly over the distribution of table salt.Debt, entrenched vested interests, a frenzy of speculation, and an aging population are all pushing China toward an economic reckoning. China’s Great Wall of Debt unravels an incredibly complex and opaque economy, one whose fortunes—for better or worse—will shape the globe like never before.{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
03.26.18China’s Attempts to Supplant Dollar Face Historic Difficulties
Wall Street Journal
The world’s first yuan-denominated oil contracts launched Monday, as part of China’s drive to turn its currency into a global force in markets.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.14.18China Levies Record $870 Million Fine for Stock Manipulation
Bloomberg
China slapped a logistics company with fines totaling 5.5 billion yuan ($870 million) for manipulating the stock market, the biggest ever punishment for such an infringement.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.24.18China Stocks at Risk of Outpacing Fundamentals
Financial Times
As the Chinese stock market’s disastrous 2015 boom-and-bust fades from memory, investors are in a mood to buy. Chinese stocks both on the mainland and in Hong Kong outperformed the S&P 500 last year, as economic growth accelerated for the...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.18China Escalates Crackdown on Cryptocurrency Trading
Bloomberg
China is escalating its clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, targeting online platforms and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, according to people familiar with the matter.
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01.16.18China’s Shutdown of Bitcoin Miners Isn’t Just about Electricity
Forbes
The most critical aspect about cryptocurrency for China to address is criminal activity.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.29.17China Fintech Lending Boom Fuels Risks of Data Theft Black Market in User Details Thrives as Apps Require Borrowers to Grant Access to Phones
Financial Times
The rise of online consumer loans in China has spawned a thriving black market in stolen user data.
Conversation
10.06.17![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/bitcoin-sm.jpg?itok=4-qJmiJh)
Is China the Future of Bitcoin, or Its Past?
China often dominates the market for Bitcoin, a virtual currency managed by a decentralized network of computers: at points over the last few years, China may have accounted for more than 75 percent of Bitcoin trading. Energy subsidies there make it...
The China Africa Project
09.18.17![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/ethiopia_railway-sm.jpg?itok=3-5jVbaI)
Africa Needs Infrastructure, China Wants to Build It. So What’s the Problem?
Every week seemingly brings a new announcement of a Chinese-financed mega project somewhere in Africa. Last week’s announcement of a $5.8 billion power station in Nigeria that will be financed and built by Chinese state-owned companies is typical of...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.10.17China’s Wanda Signals Retreat on Debt-Fueled Acquisition Binge
New York Times
The Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has epitomized the country’s high-flying deal makers, building a vast global empire of theme parks, real estate developments, and movie theaters across the United States.
Depth of Field
06.29.17![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/7years-sm.jpg?itok=HLN5DW69)
Love, Robots, and Fireworks
from Yuanjin Photo
Included in this Depth of Field column are stories of love, community, remembrance, and the future, told through the discerning eyes of some of China’s best photojournalists. Among them, the lives of African migrants in Guangzhou, seven years inside...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.25.17China Has a Huge Debt Problem. How Bad Is It?
CNN
Credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded China this week, warning that the country’s financial health is suffering from rising debt and slowing economic growth. It’s the first time the agency has cut China’s rating in nearly three decades.
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05.24.17China’s Downgrade Could Lead to a Mountain of Debt
Bloomberg
The downgrade of China’s debt by Moody’s Investors Service may push Chinese companies to borrow even more money from domestic banks as overseas debt becomes more expensive, increasing risks for the nation’s finance industry.
Books
05.02.17![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/books/system/winston_ma_hirez.jpg?itok=oCvIJcjh)
![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/assets/images/books/covers/book_cover_chinas_mobile_economy_.jpg)
China’s Mobile Economy
China’s Mobile Economy: Opportunities in the Largest and Fastest Information Consumption Boom is a cutting-edge text that spotlights the digital transformation in China. Organized into three major areas of the digital economy within China, this ground-breaking book explores the surge in e-commerce of consumer goods, the way in which multi-screen and mobile Internet use has increased in popularity, and the cultural emphasis on the mobile Internet as a source of lifestyle- and entertainment-based content. Targeted at the global business community, this lucid and engaging text guides business leaders, investors, investment banking professionals, corporate advisors, and consultants in grasping the challenges and opportunities created by China’s emerging mobile economy, and its debut on the global stage.The year of 2014-15 marks the most important inflection point in the history of the Internet in China. Almost overnight, the world’s largest digitally-connected middle class went both mobile and multi-screen (smart phone, tablets, laptops, and more), with huge implications for how consumers behave and what companies need to do to successfully compete. As next-generation mobile devices and services take off, China’s strength in this arena will transform it from a global “trend follower” to a “trend setter.”Understand what the digital transformation in China is, and impact on global capital markets, foreign investors, consumer companies, and the global economy as a whole.Explore the e-commerce consumption boom in the context of the Chinese market.Understand the implications of the multi-screen age and mobile Internet for China’s consumersSee how mobile Internet use, its focus on lifestyle and entertainment is aligned with today’s Chinese culture.Learn about the mobile entertainment habits of China’s millennial generation and the corresponding new advertisement approaches.The development of China’s mobile economy is one of the most important trends that will reshape the future of business, technology, and society both in China and the world. China's Mobile Economy introduces you to the digital transformation in China, and explains how this transformation has the potential to transform both China and the global consumer landscape. —John Wiley & Sons, Inc.{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
02.21.17China Is Warning Lotte Group against Letting a Korean Golf Course Become a Missile Defense Site
Quartz
China’s has a new target amid its ongoing economic retaliation against South Korea—the country’s fifth-biggest conglomerate
Caixin Media
10.24.16![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/rmb_0.jpg?itok=VZyuQYvj)
The Yuan’s Internationalization is Just Beginning
The official acceptance of the yuan (or renminbi) into the International Monetary Fund’s elite currency club on October 1 marked a milestone in the Chinese government’s campaign to boost the yuan’s international appeal.Inclusion of the yuan in the...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.12.16Marriage Falls in China, Transforming Finances and Families
New York Times
The decline in marriages means a decline in the kind of spending China needs to drive economic growth.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.30.16China Opens Door to Foreign Private-Equity Funds
Wall Street Journal
Regulator says funds must raise money from domestic investors, invest in Chinese capital markets.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.12.16China Party Mouthpiece Echoes Soros' Debt Fears
Financial Times
‘Authoritative’ source warns party paper of ‘deadly’ risk to economy.
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05.03.16The New Qualification for China’s Tech Elite: Goldman Sachs
Wall Street Journal
Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial set to hire banker Douglas Feagin, latest in a string of Goldman alumni at Chinese Internet firms.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.18.16China Banks Face Credit Risks from Ties to Wealth Management Products
CNBC
While WMPs offer high interest rates, it isn't always clear what assets the funds are buying to finance those payouts.
Caixin Media
02.24.16![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/weathy.jpg?itok=GW_ajISD)
Regulators Leave Wealth Management Industry Unplugged
Financial market supervisors admit that gaping holes pockmark the regulatory fences they’ve built in recent years to control the wealth management industry and protect its investors.By occasionally introducing new rules and regulations, supervisors...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.25.16China's Nearly 700 Million Internet Users Are Hot For Online Finance
Forbes
According to data from the China Internet Network Center, in 2015, online trading in stocks and online payment were hot areas of growth.
Viewpoint
01.15.16![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/gettyimages-504760610.jpg?itok=NnPqwZkK)
China’s New Development Bank Needs Better Human Rights Protections
On January 16, the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will meet in Beijing to formally launch its operations.A symbol of China’s growing clout on the international scene, the AIIB attracted 57 founding members,...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.21.15Many in the West Fear Chinese ‘Aid’ to Africa. They’re Wrong. Here’s Why.
Washington Post
Western pundits have a narrative about China’s activities in Africa.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.09.15One Thing China Got Right
Bloomberg
Stocks plunged, monetary policy wavered, but Beijing finally fixed the "fixing."
Caixin Media
08.03.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/gettyimages-479619582.jpg?itok=o39KW7mM)
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...
Conversation
07.29.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/gettyimages-482178810_copy.jpg?itok=WFJpteK-)
Can Xi Jinping Turn China’s Economy Around?
On Monday, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.5 percent, erasing all of the gains it had made in an extraordinary run-up this year. The drop was the second 8.5 percent drop in recent weeks. The first such drop (the occasion for the Conversation...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.27.15China’s Shares Tumble Again
New York Times
Artists, essayists, lawyers, bloggers and others deemed to be online troublemakers have been hauled into police stations and investigated or imprisoned for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge that was once confined to physical...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.02.15Why are China’s Stock Markets so Volatile?
Financial Times
Home to the world’s largest equity markets after the US, China is still extremely volatile with benchmark indices often swinging as much as 10 per cent in a matter of hours.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.26.15Techies Are Trying to Get Chinese Consumers to Rack Up Debt
Wired
In recent years, as the growth of the Chinese economy has slowed—thanks to declining demand for exports and new real estate projects—the government has been desperate to get its thrifty citizens to spend, spend, spend and drive economic growth from...
Sinica Podcast
05.04.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/457747234_s.jpg?itok=q1cb9vlP)
The Furor and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
from Sinica Podcast
A total of 57 countries have now joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China’s newly-launched competitor to the Asian Development Bank (AIIB) that has sparked a flurry of objections from the United States, even culminating in a failed...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.16.15New Asian Development Bank Seen As Sign Of China’s Growing Influence
NPR
Obama worries the new bank will compete with the Western-led World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.26.15Which U.S. Companies Are Doing the Most R&D in China and India?
Harvard Business Review
Companies' quest to cut costs per engineer drives new entrants into using R&D from India and China.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.15The Dragon and the Gringo
Economist
Time was when cash-strapped Latin American governments would turn to the IMF for the bitter medicine of its bail-outs. No longer. Over the past dozen years the supercycle of rising commodity prices has swelled the region’s coffers, while even the...
Environment
01.15.15![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/461214442_0.jpg?itok=KTbs2_z6)
China-Latin America Summit ‘A Missed Opportunity’ on Low-Carbon Energy
The first major meeting of Chinese and Latin American leaders agreed closer cooperation on trade, investment, and industry, but is more likely to usher in deals on oil and gas rather than renewable energy, analysts said in response to a summit that...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.17.14Beijing Cannot Count on Easy Money to Sustain Its Economic Miracle
Financial Times
Just three months ago the main Chinese stock market was dormant. Since then it has surged 30 per cent and has started to show signs of the manic trading that normally does not appear until a bull market has been gathering steam for years.
ChinaFile Recommends
12.15.14San Gabriel Valley’s El Monte Getting a Boost from Chinese Investors
Los Angeles Times
Trucks loaded with construction materials park in front of a vacant lot in El Monte, where a homeless man slumbers on the sidewalk next to a mountain of rags and trash bags. Overhead, colorful flags whip in the breeze, advertising opportunities for...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.09.14China Tightening Curbs on Opaque Local Debt Spurs Market Tumble
Bloomberg
While the change caught traders off guard, authorities in the world’s second-largest economy are trying to rein in the use of lightly-regulated Local Government Finance Vehicles (LGFVs) as they promote the development of a more transparent municipal...
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12.01.14Hong Kong IPOs Become Losing Bets for Investors
Wall Street Journal
Hong Kong is one of the world’s top venues for initial public offerings, thanks to listings by Chinese companies over the years, but most of the IPOs have been a losing bet for investors, with the bulk of them lagging behind the market in recent...
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11.24.14Exclusive: China Ready to Cut Rates Again on Fears of Deflation — Sources
Reuters
Friday's surprise cut in rates, the first in more than two years, reflects a change of course by Beijing and the central bank, which had persisted with modest stimulus measures before finally deciding last week that a bold monetary policy step...
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11.17.14China’s New Old Financial Capital
Wall Street Journal
Hong Kong’s democracy protests are often said to be futile because the city is no longer China’s golden goose, protected from Beijing’s wrath by its economic importance. But Monday’s big news shows that things aren’t so simple: The opening of a “...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.10.14Few Signs of Construction at Yujiapu, China's Manhattan Replica
NBC News
Complete with its own Rockefeller Center and Twin Towers, Yujiapu been billed as the world's largest financial center in the making. But this Manhattan still has a long way to go.
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11.10.14Shanghai-Hong Kong Link to Start in a Week as China Opens
Bloomberg
The program allowing a net 23.5 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) of daily cross-border purchases will begin on November 17, regulators said in a joint statement today after weeks of investor speculation on the start date.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.04.14Why China Won Mexico’s High-Speed Rail Project
Diplomat
Underlying Mexico’s decision to choose China, and what may have made it the only country able to meet to proposal deadline, was its decision to finance 85 percent of the project through the Export-Import Bank of China.
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11.04.14China Planning $16.3 Billion Fund for “New Silk Road”
Bloomberg
The fund, overseen by Chinese policy banks, will be used to build and expand railways, roads and pipelines in Chinese provinces that are part of the strategy to facilitate trade over land and shipping routes.
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10.24.14A Chance to Introduce Social and Environmental Protections
New York Times
Instead of opposing its creation, the U.S. should consider joining the bank as a means of guaranteeing that it matches world-class financing strength with world-class environmental practices.
Sinica Podcast
10.24.14![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/475483879.jpg?itok=VyydFhSv)
Chomping at the Bitcoin
from Sinica Podcast
After a shocking expose of Jeremy Goldkorn’s criminal past, Sinica this week moves on to examine the Bitcoin phenomenon in China. Joined by Zennon Kapron, owner of the Shanghai consultancy Kapronasia and recent author of the book Chomping at the...
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10.08.14Picture Mixed Over Anti-Foreigner Bias of Chinese Regulator
Financial Times
The alleged anti-foreigner bias of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which enforces pricing provisions of the 2008 Anti Monopoly Law, has become an increasingly common complaint among multinational executives working in the country.
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06.20.14Zhang Lei has Lunch with the FT
Financial Times
The billionaire Chinese financier was among the first to see the potential in homegrown internet companies. He talks about a career that began when he rented out comics at the age of seven.