Book Title: Wild Ride: A Short History of the Opening and Closing of the Chinese Economy Author: Anne Stevenson Yang Headline: Ghost Cities, Mounting Debt, and Xi Jinping's Increased Surveillance The cash influx led to building "ghost cities" like Kangbas
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
The cash influx led to building "ghost cities" like Kangbashi and vast infrastructure, often for show. Post-2008, Chinapoured trillions more into the economy, fueling land-collateralized loans and an unsustainable real estate boom. Under Xi Jinping, severe COVID lockdowns and widespread disappointment led to increased surveillance and a mounting debt crisis, with municipalities struggling to pay essential services as the dream of unbridled economic growth retreats.
1959
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| 0:30.0 | I'm John, Dr. CBSI on the world. Anne Stevenson Yang is here. Her new book is Wild Ride, a short history of the opening and closing of the Chinese economy. We're at in 2020 COVID hits. |
| 0:35.9 | We know the story is shut down of the Chinese economy. |
| 0:40.2 | Seal the apartment buildings in some instances quite severe. |
| 0:44.5 | And the Chinese people are rattled. |
| 0:46.9 | At the same time, there is a financial crisis that accompanies the shutting down of not just the Chinese economy, but the global economy. |
| 0:53.8 | We're still recovering. |
| 0:55.6 | And all of the bad credit that is now out there cannot be serviced easily. What is to be done? |
| 1:03.1 | It's not just the ghost cities because I have this fact from Ann's reporting. |
| 1:09.3 | 25% of the GDP that's been reported all these years is based upon the real estate. |
| 1:16.0 | Those projects out there, the miracles, and the miracles have stopped. |
| 1:21.0 | And deflation sets in. |
| 1:23.8 | And also a distrust entirely of authority. |
| 1:28.8 | And that's where we are right now looking at this model of recovery. |
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