China’s overseas bank lending has tripled in four years to RMB 2.52 trillion yuan and sales of onshore and offshore yuan debt are at or near records for the second year running, reports Reuters, as attractive pricing makes yuan poised to overtake overseas dollar loans at Chinese banks.

Bankers say the boom is encouraged by cost, because yuan rates are low. But the market is also starting to generate its own momentum and a deepening pool of demand to own and spend yuan—a sign China’s drive to globalise the currency is making headway even without progress to liberalise capital accounts.

Creditors are holding a vote on whether to give Vanke, which has $50 billion of interest-bearing liabilities, more time to forestall a default on the loan. Vanke failed to make a payment on December 15 and proposed a one-year extension.

Vanke is the biggest property developer in China, and the fact that it is seeking such an extension is reflective of the current dire state of the property market. Beijing wants to avoid having a sudden public collapse, and managed to smooth over a situation with Evergrande which was threatening to do that. 

Vanke, and the upcoming vote, provide guidance as to how the system plans to deal with the deeper problems afflicting China’s property market sector. It will not be easy.

Labubu mania appears to be ebbing as quickly as it surged, reports Bloomberg, driving a roughly 40% drop for Pop Mart International since its August peak.

A disappointing US Black Friday and cooling resale demand have revived comparisons to the 1990s’ Beanie Babies bust, challenging the notion that Pop Mart could become China’s answer to Walt Disney or Hello Kitty owner Sanrio.

Pop Mart’s North America revenue growth slowed to 424% in the current quarter to December 6—more than halving from the three months to September—according to YipitData, a New York-based firm that gathers and analyzes alternative data. Bearish wagers against its stock have tripled since November to their highest since August 2023, S&P Global data show.

MetaX Integrated Circuits soared on its trading debut in Shanghai, reports the South China Morning Post. This is the second producer of graphics processing units (GPUs) to go public this month amid optimism about China’s push for self-sufficiency in semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The shares of the Shanghai-based company began trading at RMB 700 on 17 December on the technology-heavy Star Market, surging 569% from their offer price of RMB 104.66. That made the five-year-old company the fourth-best trading debut in Shanghai’s stock market this year.

The frenzy for MetaX underscores investors’ reaction to China’s ambitions in using domestically made chips to replace imports for powering AI applications and services, even after the US government relaxed some of the export restrictions on Nvidia. Less than two weeks ago, Moore Threads Technology, a local rival of MetaX that has been dubbed “China’s little Nvidia,” soared 425% on its Shanghai trading debut.

Provincial and municipal authorities in Zhejiang have established special task forces to address a mounting default crisis at Zhejiang Zhejin Asset Operation, reports Caixin. The licensed financial asset exchange has suspended payouts on wealth management products, stranding nearly 10,000 investors.

The crisis, involving more than RMB 20 billion ($2.8 billion) in financial products, began in late November when investors were unable to redeem matured investments or withdraw cash from their accounts. Since then, Zhejin has fully halted withdrawals.

On Monday, local media outlet Tide News reported that investigators are probing Sunriver Holding Group, the primary issuer behind the troubled products, while also overseeing Zhejin’s cooperation with the inquiry. A government team was dispatched to Sunriver on December 12 to assess the company’s assets and liabilities.