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China’s Punishment for People With Bad Debts: No Fast Trains or Nice Hotels
中国政府正在打击数以百万计的拖欠债务者。肩上的债务负担再加上针对失信人的惩罚制度，让中国各地的很多欠债者倍感压力。
中国天津，一列准备出发的高速列车。 Qin Huangsheng once imagined a better life in the city when she left her home village to become a factory worker at age 16. 6park.com
Qin Huangsheng 16岁那年背井离乡进厂打工时，曾憧憬可以在城市里过上更好的生活。 6park.com
如今，40岁出头的她欠下了4万美元的个人债务，每月的基本工资为400美元。讨债人对她穷追不舍。她还被禁止购买中国高铁车票。中国政府正对失信欠债者施加越来越多的惩罚，禁乘高铁只是其中之一。 6park.comNow, in her early 40s, she has $40,000 in personal debt and a base salary of $400 a month. Debt collectors are hounding her. She is blocked from buying tickets on China’s high-speed rail, just one of the penalties the government is increasingly imposing on people who don’t pay their bills. 6park.com 6park.comQin只能乘坐老旧的慢速列车，她有时看着其他乘客会想：“我一上车，心里就会想会不会都是跟我一样的失信人。” 6park.comOn the aging slow trains she is left to ride, Qin sometimes looks at the other passengers and thinks: “I wonder if they’re all bad debtors like me.” 6park.com
肩上的债务负担再加上针对失信人的惩罚制度，让中国各地的很多欠债者倍感压力。中国政府正打击拖欠债务者，具体做法包括划扣他们的工资，或限制他们进入政府部门工作，以及限制他们乘高铁、飞机出行等。许多拖欠债务者被禁止购买高额保费的保险，并被告知不能去度假或住高档酒店。如果他们不遵照执行，有关部门可以拘留他们。 6park.comPeople across China are being weighed down by their debts and a system that penalizes them for not paying the money back. Beijing is cracking down on delinquent debtors by seizing their salaries or restricting them from getting government jobs, as well as curbing their access to high-speed trains and air travel. Many are forbidden from buying expensive insurance policies and told they aren’t allowed to go on vacation or stay in nice hotels. Authorities can detain them if they don’t comply. 6park.com
政府公布的失信被执行人名单上的人员数量自2019年底以来大增近50%，已达830万人。如果有人不履行裁决拒绝偿还债务，或者被认定不配合法律程序，法院可以将其列入这个黑名单。 6park.comThe number of people on a publicly available government delinquency blacklist has jumped by nearly 50% since late 2019 to 8.3 million today. Courts can put people on the blacklist when they don’t fulfill judgments against them to pay money back or are deemed to be not cooperating with legal proceedings.
Unlike in the U.S., China doesn’t allow most people—including those who had a run of bad luck—to declare bankruptcy to write off bad debts and move on with their lives, a policy some Chinese scholars are criticizing as unfair. 6park.com 6park.com中国家庭债务总规模在过去五年里激增了50%，现在达到了11万亿美元左右。虽然这低于美国家庭17.5万亿美元的债务规模，但对于一个居民收入远低于美国的国家来说，这个数字还是很大的。 6park.comHousehold debt has surged by 50% in the past five years to around $11 trillion today. While that is lower than the $17.5 trillion Americans owe, it is a huge sum in a country where people earn far less. 6park.com 6park.com在房价下跌、通货紧缩风险与日俱增、失业问题持续构成挑战的情况下，中国领导人迫切希望让民众扩大消费。但是，用来偿债的钱每增加1美元，可以用来购置新衣服或度假的钱就会少1美元。而拖欠债务可能受到的惩罚正让许多家庭在用钱方面变得更加保守。 6park.comWith home prices falling, deflation risks becoming entrenched and unemployment a persistent challenge, Chinese leaders are eager to get people spending more. But each additional dollar going to pay for debt is taking away one that could be used to splurge on new clothes or pay for a vacation. The threat of punishment for falling behind on debt is making many families more conservative with their money. 6park.com
不同于美国的情况，中国不允许大多数人宣布破产以勾销坏账、继续自己的生活，包括那些遭遇了一连串厄运的人；一些中国学者正批评这一政策不公平。 6park.com
中国政府周二公布，第一季度社会消费品零售总额同比增长4.7%，低于GDP 5.3%的增速。在许多民众缩减开支之际，中国政府正优先推动制造业和出口，而这一战略正在加剧中国与西方的贸易紧张关系。 6park.comRetail sales of consumer goods in China rose 4.7% year-over-year in the first quarter, the government said Tuesday, lagging behind total economic growth of 5.3%. As many in China curtail spending, the government is giving priority to turbocharging manufacturing and exports, a strategy that is exacerbating trade tensions with the West. 6park.com
许多中国消费者面临财务压力之际，包括苹果公司(Apple)、雅诗兰黛(Estée Lauder)和通用汽车(General Motors)在内的西方公司纷纷公布在华销售疲软。 6park.comWith so many Chinese consumers under financial pressure, Western companies including Apple, Estée Lauder and General Motors have reported weaker sales in China. 6park.com
中国官员没有回复记者有关征信黑名单制度的问题。中国政府此前曾表示，征信黑名单只针对那些有偿还能力但拒不偿债的人。 6park.comChinese officials didn’t respond to questions about the blacklisting system. The government has said previously it only seeks to target those who have the ability to repay their debts but refuse to do so.
中国长期的房地产繁荣已结束，这不仅损害了开发商，也伤及了许多个人。
中国个人债务激增的背后 China’s long housing boom was a significant cause of the rise in personal debts, because many people had to borrow more to afford homes. Some buyers took on extra debt to buy more properties for investment purposes, sometimes letting them sit empty. Now that the boom is over and prices are falling, many are stuck with debts they can’t handle. 6park.com
中国长期的房地产繁荣是个人债务增加的重要原因，因为许多人为了买房不得不借更多的钱。一些购房者背负额外的债务是为了置办更多房产用于投资，有时甚至任凭房子空置。如今房地产热潮已经结束，房价正在下跌，许多人无力偿还债务。 6park.com
根据房地产研究公司中国指数研究院(China Index Academy)的数据，2023年挂牌出售的法拍房数量上升43%，至约40万套。 6park.comThe number of foreclosed homes listed for sale rose 43% in 2023 to roughly 400,000 properties, according to real-estate research firm China Index Academy. 6park.com
个人债务增加在一定程度上也是因为随着经济停滞不前，越来越多的人使用信用卡或动用个人信贷额度来应付开支。 6park.comThe increase in personal debts is also partly a result of more people using credit cards or tapping personal credit lines to handle expenses as the economy stagnates. 6park.com
许多经济学家表示，中国不太可能很快发生美国式的金融危机。政府对国内银行系统的控制意味着，政府可以在紧急情况下吸收损失和注资。在过去两年里，家庭债务也基本处于平稳阶段，许多人优先考虑使用额外现金偿还债务，而不是购物或投资股票。 6park.comMany economists say a U.S.-style financial crisis is unlikely in China soon. State control of the banking system means the government can absorb losses and inject capital in an emergency. Household debts have also largely plateaued over the past two years, as many people give priority to using extra cash to pay down liabilities rather than shopping or investing in stocks.
6park.com尽管如此，对中国领导层来说，个人背负巨额债务的情况普遍存在仍是个问题。 6park.comStill, the prevalence of large personal debts is a problem for China’s leadership. 6park.com
芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)经济学家Amir Sufi表示，家庭债务激增往往会给宏观经济带来不利影响，即使在没有发生金融危机的情况下也是如此。中国不可能轻而易举解决这个问题。“一旦这个周期开启，通常就漫长而痛苦，而且难以预测何时结束，”Sufi说。 6park.com“Household debt booms tend to lead to bad macroeconomic outcomes, even in the absence of a financial crisis,” said Amir Sufi, a University of Chicago economist. China has no simple fix. “Once the cycle starts, it’s usually one in which it’s painful, long and difficult to predict when it will end,” Sufi said.
中国的许多消费者使用支付宝和微信等应用程序来支付商品和服务费用，并帮助他们获得个人贷款。
对借款人十分严厉的制度 China has tried for years to lift personal spending to ease its economy’s traditional reliance on infrastructure and real-estate growth. Its banks issued tens of millions of new credit cards each year, with outstanding balances jumping 50% between 2018 and 2023 to well over $1 trillion. Private technology apps such as Alipay and WeChat also started helping consumers secure loans as their digital payment systems soared in popularity. 6park.com 6park.com但是一旦欠债不还，一个人的收入就可能被国家划扣以偿还债务，债务人只能靠微薄的限额基本生活费勉强度日。 6park.comBut when debts go unpaid, a person’s income can be seized by the state to cover their liabilities, leaving debtors with a small allowance to scrape by. 6park.com
多年来，中国一直试图提高个人消费，以减少中国经济传统上对基础设施和房地产增长的依赖。中国的银行每年发行数千万张新信用卡，未偿还余额在2018年至2023年期间猛增50%，增至远超1万亿美元的水平。随着支付宝和微信等私营技术应用的数字支付系统迅速普及，这些应用软件也开始帮助消费者获得贷款。 6park.com
一名38岁的男子向广州的法院提出申请，要求将他的生活费限额从每月9,500元提高到1,2000元，相当于约1,600美元，以帮助支付一个新生儿的费用。法庭记录显示，法官在去年年底驳回了他的请求，并得出结论认为他的限额应该减少近40%，因为他已经拿得太多了。 6park.comA 38-year-old man petitioned courts in the southern city of Guangzhou to raise his monthly allowance to 12,000 yuan, equivalent to around $1,600, from 9,500 yuan to help pay for a newborn child. Judges denied his request late last year, and instead concluded that his allowance should be cut by nearly 40% because he was already getting too much, court records show. 6park.com
为黑名单上的人提供服务的黑市已经出现。在一起案件中，上海有关部门捣毁了一个黄牛党团伙，他们替被禁止自行购买高铁票的债务人订高铁票。据当地一家法院称，2021年初，有关部门追踪到一名使用该服务的债务人，并将其拘留。 6park.comA black market has emerged to serve people on the blacklist. In one case, Shanghai authorities busted a ring of scalpers who were booking high-speed rail tickets on behalf of debtors who were barred from doing so themselves. In early 2021, authorities tracked down a debtor who had been using the service and took him into custody, according to a local court. 6park.com
现行制度优先保护债权人，通常是强大的国有机构，不顾陷入困境的个人需要帮助的情况。研究这一问题的学者表示，中国迫切需要一个全国性的个人破产制度，通过迫使债权人和债务人共同分担贷款坏账的代价，实现领导人习近平的目标，使中国变得更加公平。 6park.comThe current system gives priority to protecting creditors—often powerful, state-owned institutions—at the expense of helping struggling individuals. Scholars who study the issue say China urgently needs a nationwide personal-bankruptcy system to achieve leader Xi Jinping’s goal of making the country more equitable, by forcing creditors and debtors to share the costs of soured loans. 6park.com
曾就破产政策向政府提供建议的学者李曙光去年夏天在中国一家杂志的在线评论文章中写道：“个人破产制度是实现财富再分配的机制。” 6park.com“A personal-bankruptcy system is a mechanism for the redistribution of wealth,” Li Shuguang, a scholar who has advised the government on bankruptcy policy, wrote in a Chinese magazine commentary online last summer. 6park.com
反对者认为这种制度只会鼓励更多的人逃避债务，这些反对者在一定程度上阻碍了该问题的进展。 6park.comMovement on the issue has been stymied in part by opponents who believe such a system would only encourage more people to shirk their debts.
一个女人的坎坷经历 For Qin, the former factory worker, easy access to credit backfired badly. 6park.com
对于曾在工厂当工人的Qin来说，唾手可得的贷款反而使她命途多舛。 6park.com
1999年，年仅16岁的她离开中国南方农村的老家，乘坐红眼客车去了香港北边的制造业中心东莞，那里又脏又乱。 6park.comAs a 16-year-old in 1999, Qin boarded an overnight bus from her home in rural southern China to the grimy manufacturing hub of Dongguan, north of Hong Kong. 6park.com
她的父母都是农民，无力为她缴纳不到15美元的中考报名考试费。她决心自食其力，在拖鞋厂和金饰厂找到了工作。 6park.comHer parents, who are farmers, couldn’t afford a payment of less than $15 needed for her to take a high-school entrance exam. She vowed to make it on her own, and found work in factories producing slippers and golden jewelry. 6park.com 6park.com几年后，她拿到了自己的第一张信用卡。她用信用卡买了一台电脑自学打字，以便找到一份更好的工作。 6park.comA few years later, Qin secured her first credit card. With it, she bought a computer to teach herself to type so she could land a better job. 6park.com
账单付清后，她说她试图注销这张信用卡。但银行工作人员告诉她，可以留着以备不时之需。 6park.comWhen the bill was paid, Qin said she tried to cancel the card. “Keep it for an emergency,” the bank clerk told her. 6park.com
她的事业蒸蒸日上，并最终搬到了广州。她说，到2010年，她已在一家为房地产项目提供消防安全设备的公司负责投标工作。在房地产繁荣时期，她赚取了丰厚的佣金，积蓄稳步增加。 6park.comQin’s career flourished and she eventually moved to the metropolis of Guangzhou. By 2010, she said, she was managing bidding for a company that supplied fire-safety equipment to real-estate projects. Her nest egg steadily grew from the lucrative commissions she earned in the property boom. 6park.com
后来房地产行业放缓，她就转行了。她认识的一个人参与了一家初创公司的工作，该公司当时在开发的软件可帮助小企业主收集微信数据，从而产生更多的客流量，帮助他们开展营销活动。 6park.comWhen the property sector slowed, she jumped industries. An acquaintance had been involved in a startup that was developing software to help small-business owners collect WeChat data to generate more foot traffic and aid marketing efforts. 6park.com
她说，她将大约15万美元的个人积蓄投到了这家公司。 6park.comQin said she invested the equivalent of around $150,000 of her savings into the venture. 6park.com
这家初创公司试图使这个软件走上正轨，期间迅速花光了她的初始投资。她说，之后她同意开始将公司的部分开支，包括办公用品、房租和员工工资，用她自己的信用卡以及通过微信和支付宝获得的个人信用额度，来支付这些开销。 6park.comThe startup burned through her initial investment as it tried to get the software up and running. Qin said she then agreed to start putting some of its expenses, including office supplies, rent and employee salaries, on her credit cards, and to tap personal credit lines she had obtained via WeChat and Alipay. 6park.com
她说，公司的路演受到了热烈欢迎。但在新冠疫情暴发后，前景变得黯淡。 6park.comA roadshow by the company was warmly received, she said. But its prospects dimmed after the Covid pandemic hit. 6park.com
这家公司的困境让她背上了相当于数万美元的债务。讨债者的电话轰炸成了家常便饭。 6park.comThe company’s struggles left Qin with the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Phone calls from debt collectors have become a daily occurrence. 6park.com
在无法选择破产的情况下，她认为找份新工作是摆脱困境的唯一出路。 6park.comWith no option of bankruptcy, Qin concluded that a new job was her only way out of trouble.
一些拖欠债务者被限制乘坐中国的高铁。 “As long as I’m still living and have a life, I can work hard to earn the money back,” she said. 6park.com
她说，只要还活着，有生命在这里，就还可以努力挣回来。 6park.com
这条路上出现了意想不到的困难。2021年，在准备前往广州东北700多英里处的上海出差时，Qin意识到自己没办法坐高铁，因为买高铁票需要出示政府发放的身份证件。她选择了坐慢车，后来她也辞去了那份工作，一定程度上是因为该乘车限制导致她没法干这个工作。 6park.comThat path has faced unexpected difficulties. In 2021, while preparing for a business trip to Shanghai, more than 700 miles northeast of Guangzhou, Qin realized that she had lost her access to high-speed rail, where a government I.D. is required to buy a ticket. She took the slow train—and later quit that job in part because the travel restrictions were making it impossible. 6park.com
当地官员没有回应有关Qin的遭遇的问题，《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)无法核实她所说的一些细节。 6park.comLocal officials didn’t respond to questions about Qin’s case and The Wall Street Journal wasn’t able to verify some details of her account. 6park.com
如今，Qin正在广州以南佛山的一家店里卖中药。她每月基本工资合400美元左右，要还清债务十分困难，但她说，到目前为止，她设法偿还了两张信用卡，还剩约4万美元没还。 6park.comToday, Qin is working in a shop in Foshan, south of Guangzhou, selling traditional Chinese medicines. With a base salary of about $400 a month, she has found it tough to put a dent in her debts, but said she has managed to pay back two of her credit cards so far, with about $40,000 still to go. 6park.com
Qin设法保持乐观，希望随着中国人口老龄化的到来，药品会有大量需求，让她有机会拿奖金，甚至有可能自己开店。尽管如此，她还是不得不千方百计赚钱来还债。 6park.comQin is trying to stay optimistic, hoping that medicine will be in high demand as China’s population ages, opening the door to bonuses and potentially even running her own shop. Still, she has had to get creative to earn the cash to pay her debts. 6park.com
目前的工作需要Qin通过微信数字钱包向顾客收款。但她说，自2022年以来，她账户中的这一功能被冻结了好几次，只好求助家人。 6park.comHer current role requires Qin to collect payments from customers using a digital wallet on WeChat. But she said that function on her account has been frozen several times since 2022, leaving Qin to seek help from her family. 6park.com
不过，她决定不把自己的麻烦全都告诉父母。 6park.comShe decided not to tell her parents about the full scale of her troubles, however. 6park.com
Qin说，如果他们知道了真相，肯定会睡不着。 6park.comIf they knew the truth, Qin said, they “wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
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