The Economist.
Earlier this year, amidst the world leaders and business moguls gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
a peculiar exchange caught my attention.
Thank you Mr. Bessent and I'm a journalist from China Media Group.
A journalist from Chinese state media surprised the US Treasury Secretary
with a question that sounded a bit like a threat.
So, do you think there is kill line exists in the US?
You can hear Bessent stumble.
I, I'm not, I, I don't understand the question.
I'm not sure you do either.
Perhaps because kill line isn't a phrase commonly used in America.
But back in China, the slang had gone viral.
Invented by bloggers and amplified by state media, kill line describes the tipping point
at which a single misfortune - a car crash, illness, or job loss -
can plunge an otherwise comfortable household into ruin.
There's no doubt that many Americans worry about staying afloat.
But China's economy is facing its own set of pressures,
from a housing crash to falling wages and high youth unemployment.
So why is China so obsessed with America's kill line?
And what does it tell us about China's own anxieties?