Lulu Yilun Chen

A deadly crossing: daily danger on China’s bridges

The number of unsafe bridges in Hebei province was at least 9,946 last year, according to figures given to South China Morning Post separately by people in the province's communications and water resources departments.

China Hot money’s growing underground flow

Hot money travels across the border in various ways, from suitcases to doctored trading invoices. A groundswell of individuals in Hong Kong opt to move cash through local money changers, many of whom also act as remittance agencies, handling two-way trade and mimicking the hawala banking networks that operate in South Asia and the Middle East.

Money changers say they can wire as much as HK$20 million in one deal and transfer roughly HK$3 million a day between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Slippery products for banks’ clients

The explosive growth in the wealth management product market has the mainland's banking regulator grappling to rein in practices that threaten investors and raise concerns about transparency in the banking system.

Investors often believed there is an implicit commitment from banks to repay investors upon the products' maturity, said Charlene Chu, senior director of financial institutions for Fitch Ratings. However, such repayment obligations are not often included anywhere in the banks' financial statements, and thus represent a hidden call on banks' liquidity.

Chinese Lenders in Capital Rush

Mainland banks may struggle in the face of bad loans and global market uncertainty to raise billions of yuan needed to meet new asset rules

Since 2005, mainland banks have raised more than US$272 billion through debt and equity issues globally, data provider Dealogic says.

Immigrant Farmers: Invited to farm, but forced off the land

31,000--The number of farmers now living around Ningbo city who were lured by local officials to move in 30 years ago, to boost food production.

Investors see downside of stock accumulators

Mainlander on quest to reclaim derivative losses: Qi Weibao boarded a plane in his hometown of Tianjin bound for Hong Kong. It was his 11th trip in two years. His mission was not to shop or see the sights but to continue his battle with HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks.

Cities think big – but can they all really win?

Zhengzhou's new town eventually will cover 115 square kilometres, almost twice the size of New York's Manhattan Island, and cost 150 billion yuan, funded by the local government and property developers involved in the project.

In the short term, such big projects boost employment and burnish the reputation of local authorities. But in the long term, the flurry of construction - much of it funded by local government borrowings - could leave the cities lumbered with white elephant projects for years to come and Chinese banks stuck with sour loans.

Rural hukou now a prize for graduates

With prices for farmland rising rapidly on the mainland, many university graduates want their rural residencies back. But it is not that easy.

For many university graduates on the mainland, such as Zhou Jiaozhi, getting a rural hukou - or residency status - is now something to aspire to rather than flee from

Fraudulent marriage and divorces for property

Marriage and divorce are two sides of the same coin. But often on the mainland that coin isn't love, it's property.

In a strange paradox, marriage and divorce - both real and fraudulent - have become ways to help people evade government restrictions on buying and selling property.