‘No money, no new year’: Chinese developers remain mired in debt even after financial lifeline

‘No money, no new year’: Chinese developers remain mired in debt even after financial lifeline

As millions of Chinese headed home last week to celebrate the Lunar New Year, Michael Lin had to break the bad news to his 7-year-old daughter: she would not be seeing her grandparents in Anhui province during the long holiday week.

Lin, who runs a painting and heating-insulation company in neighbouring Jiangsu province, had to sell the family's 2017 Honda SUV last December to keep his small business - and six employees - afloat.

He is one of the thousands of suppliers who have had to forgo holidays, tap into rainy-day funds or close their businesses in the past year, as they too came into hard times, following the outsize debts owed by China Evergrande Group, Kaisa Group Holdings and dozens of Chinese developers facing US$84 billion of bond payments in 2022.