The Missing

Local official goes missing after debt rumors

The Chenzhou Agricultural Machinery Bureau published a missing persons notice in the Chenzhou Daily seeking its deputy chief Wang Changhong, who had been missing for months, according to Xinmin net.

Sea change for China’s shipbuilding business

The son of Wenzhou shipbuilding executive Chen Tongkao scrambled to quell fears of a company shutdown after his father, under financial pressure, fled the country in mid-February. Chen’s whereabouts are unknown, and since his disappearance the city’s business community has buzzed with rumors about the status and future of his apparently captain-less company, Dongfang Shipbuilding

China: toils of communist boss give insight into workings of the party

Meanwhile, a Chongqing businessman appears to have vanished in Beijing shortly after publishing a microblog message saying "the jigsaw puzzle around Wang Lijun" would soon become clear. Zhang Mingyu had claimed to have a recording of Wang warning him to stop accusing another businessman of corruption. Zang's lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, said Zhang had been visited by police and other officials who wanted him to return to Chongqing, and was now out of contact. Questioning their jurisdiction, Pu added: "Chongqing police came to Beijing to take him. This is more like a kidnapping." Chongqing police said they had no information on Zhang. Earlier this week fugitive Chinese businessman Li Jun described Bo's anti-crime campaign as a "red terror". He alleged in interviews with the Financial Times and Washington Post that Chongqing security officials had tortured him and seized his assets. Chongqing officials declined to comment.

Bo said his former ally Wang Lijun's flight to the US consulate in nearby Chengdu last month had surprised him. "I truly never expected this to happen. I felt it was extremely sudden," he said.

Chinese RE Developers Flee Debt

According to media reports, since August of last year close to ten real estate developers in Changsha City, Hunan Province have abandoned their businesses and fled. They include Jiangbin Homes, Zhongyuan Residence, Dongfang Navigator, Zhongyang Residence, Keke Little City, Lipujin Cubic, and Xiangjiang 700. Authorities in the provinces of Henan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have also reported about developers fleeing with large sums of money. Most recently, the president of Yuyang Enterprise in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province took several hundred million yuan of loan money and disappeared overnight. Chen Fei, a millionaire developer in Zhijiang Province, abandoned the Shengli Square development project and fled with over a million yuan. Several heads of a real estate development firm in Anyang City, Henan Province disappeared with a large sum of money that was allegedly raised illegally.

China moves yuan closer to market

Data over the weekend showed China’s trade balance plunged $31.5 US billion into the red in February as imports swamped exports. It followed reports on Friday that inflation eased in February while bank lending, retail sales and industrial output fell below forecast, all pointing to a cooling economy.