Pan Shiyi, the prominent Chinese real estate entrepreneur and founder of SOHO China, who has kept a low profile for three years, recently published an article describing nearly three decades of mainland China’s property market development as resembling a “Ponzi scheme.”

In a post titled “My Reflections” on his personal WeChat public account, Pan recalled how in 1998, when China began developing commercial housing, developers traveled to Hong Kong to learn sales methods, picking up concepts like mortgages and pre-sales. He noted that the industry soon adopted a high-leverage, high-turnover model that quickly became distorted on the mainland.

Within just a few years, competition in the sector shifted away from building and selling quality homes, and instead became a race to acquire more land, secure financing faster, and expand more aggressively.

Pan described a deeply interconnected and fragile system: developers survived on pre-sale revenues, companies kept afloat by borrowing new money to repay old debts, local governments depended on land sales for income, and homebuyers believed property prices would rise indefinitely. “Tie these four things together,” he wrote, “and if any one of them breaks, the rest will collapse.”

He noted that for a considerable period, the practices of some property developers were no different from a Ponzi scheme. The losses caused now amount to trillions of yuan (hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars), bringing pain to countless families.

Pan concluded that while judicial authorities have identified the specific wrongdoings of certain developers, the crisis is the combined result of systemic, financial, fiscal, corporate, and social factors. He noted that China’s property market has been declining for 47 consecutive months, and that restoring confidence — built on integrity — is now the most critical task.

Pan, 62, relocated to the United States in 2014 after selling off large amounts of assets. The IP address of his post was traced to the U.S., though he has previously stated he retains Chinese citizenship.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 17, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202604170043.aspx

At the Data Fusion 2026 conference held in Moscow on April 8–9, Liu Zhiqiang, Executive President of Digital International Limited, outlined two defining characteristics of China’s approach to investing in emerging technologies.

The first is what Liu described as “patient capital.” He noted that China has sustained large-scale investments in critical sectors over periods of up to a decade, even when returns remained low. The semiconductor industry serves as a prime example, where the entire Chinese economy has maintained consistent, long-term commitment to the sector.

The second characteristic, which Liu emphasized as uniquely Chinese in its investment logic, is the focus on full industrial chain investment rather than backing isolated technologies. Rather than placing bets on individual technological breakthroughs, China invests across the entire supply chain ecosystem surrounding a given industry.

Liu illustrated this with an example from his own company, which operates in the robotics sector in the Greater Bay Area. He described a phenomenon known as the “45-minute supply chain circle,” where any robotics company in the region can source over 95% of the components it needs within a 45-minute radius.

“Investment in an emerging industry is not just about specific technologies,” Liu said, “but about building out the entire supply chain and industrial ecosystem.”

Together, these two traits — the willingness to absorb prolonged low returns and the commitment to cultivating complete industrial ecosystems — reflect a distinctly Chinese model of strategic technology investment that sets it apart from approaches seen elsewhere in the world.

Source: Sputnik News, April 9, 2026
https://sputniknews.cn/20260409/1070696062.html

China’s rapid subway expansion era is drawing to a close, as local governments face mounting financial pressures and demographic headwinds — even in prosperous coastal cities.

A widely circulated article from the WeChat account “Urban Finance” highlights how several major cities have recently seen subway plans rejected or scaled back. Ningbo’s development authority stated the city lacks the ridership levels needed to qualify for a fourth phase of rail construction. Shenzhen’s proposed Metro Line 18 failed to receive national approval. And Guangzhou’s fourth phase of subway planning may be approved for only about 100 kilometers fewer than originally submitted — a reduction of over 60 percent.

The article notes that approval difficulties are no longer limited to smaller cities; even high-tier urban centers are finding it harder to get new lines greenlit. Behind the tightening standards lie two key forces: the collapse of the real estate sector has severely squeezed local government revenues and worsened debt problems, while slowing population growth has undermined the ridership case for new lines in many cities.

The financial toll is already visible. Shenzhen Metro, which intervened to bail out property developer Vanke Group, reported a loss of 33.46 billion yuan (approximately $4.6 billion USD) by the end of 2024 — more than it earned over the previous five years combined.

The broader fiscal picture reinforces the challenge. National land sale revenues fell to 4.15 trillion yuan (approximately $571 billion USD) in 2024, less than half the peak of 8.7 trillion yuan (approximately $1.2 trillion USD) reached in 2021.

China currently has over 40 cities with metro systems, including Shanghai and Beijing, both of which have surpassed 900 kilometers of operating lines. But the article argues the era of cities racing to build sprawling networks is effectively over. While new lines will continue opening in the coming decade, the spectacle of cities competing to submit hundred-kilometer expansion plans is unlikely to return.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 13, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202604130173.aspx