China's economic challenge
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
China, the so-called engine of global growth, seems to be stalling badly right now. The country is facing rising unemployment, falling factory output and a collapsing property market. Plus, a growing number of regular Chinese citizens are complaining that the country's tough anti-Covid strategy isn't working. China has faced choppy economic waters before. But with record high-levels of domestic debt, does it now have the resources to shore up the holes when firms, banks and even local governments start to run out of money? And what are the implications for the rest of us?
Presenter/producer: Ed Butler Image: Children play basketball in front of a housing complex built by debt-laden Chinese property developer Evergrande in Beijing. Credit: Noel Celis/Getty Images.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi there, my name's Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. Today, it's |
| 0:06.8 | crunch time for China. Its output is falling and unemployment's rising. We could not find a long-term job |
| 0:16.5 | in Shanghai. Of course, my mental health has been affected. How did I manage to survive for those |
| 0:22.9 | three months? I don't know how to describe it. A sharp slowdown in the world's second |
| 0:28.6 | largest economy could be a major headache for the ruling Communist Party. There are risks |
| 0:33.8 | for all of us, too, though. What happens in China reverberates across the globe. |
| 0:41.1 | There is no part of the world that is shielded. |
| 0:44.7 | China's economic turmoil. |
| 0:46.8 | That's Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:52.0 | A sense of relief in early June in China's most popular city. |
| 1:00.1 | More than two months after it began, Shanghai's strict COVID lockdown was formally to be lifted. |
| 1:07.4 | Firework displays, welcome citizens, back onto the streets. |
| 1:11.6 | Oh, we are free. I'm so happy I want to work. I want to work tomorrow. |
| 1:18.6 | We look down too many days. We need to have a celebrate. All the better things gone past. |
| 1:25.6 | So tomorrow will be fine. Everything will be all right. |
| 1:29.6 | Tomorrow will be fine. |
| 1:32.5 | But the reopening in Shanghai wasn't just a queue for parties. |
| 1:37.0 | Local lockdowns and regular COVID tests continued for the population at large. |
| 1:41.7 | And for some of the poorest citizens, |
| 1:47.3 | this meant one thing, time to leave. |
| 1:52.1 | That's the sound of workers on the move, |
| 1:56.3 | thousands of them, mostly rural migrants dragging their suitcases, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.