The Economists.
While China remains a nation of big savers, a growing number of people are cash-trapped,
and the government's policy to boost consumption has been met with little enthusiasm.
Last week on Drum Tower, we looked at how the savings of many middle-class Chinese
are now trapped in China's moribund housing market.
Today, we turn to the other side of the ledger, debt.
We'll meet people, many of whom seem successful,
who are nonetheless struggling to keep up with repayments.
I'm Jiehao Chen, The Economist China researcher and Drum Tower producer.
This week, I'm joined by James Miles, our China writer-at-large,
and we're asking, why are so many Chinese people drowning in debt?
This is Drum Tower from The Economists.
Hey James, welcome back to Drum Tower!
Hi Jiehao, I'm joining you from my home studio today,
James, I know you were first posted to China in the 80s.
How would you describe the attitude towards money back then?
Well, basically, there really wasn't much of it back then.
The economy from top to bottom, basically was run by the government.
There were hardly any private enterprises in the cities.
Most people worked for the state, whether in state-owned factories, the civil service, other public sector jobs.