>>13647024
>>13647024
English translation：
In China, there’s a term called “shared area” (gongtan mianji).
It means that when you buy an apartment listed as 100 square meters, about 30 of those square meters are actually shared spaces — hallways, elevators, stairwells, etc.
So you pay for 100 square meters but only get to use around 70.
It’s framed as a “system design,” but in reality, it’s just a way to make buyers pay more.
Then there are unfinished buildings, or “rotting projects.”
Many of those developers have close ties with local officials — sometimes even relatives or friends.
They lease the land from the government for 70 years, start construction, sell units, and then stop halfway through.
The developers run away, the money disappears, and those connections help them get away with it.
The sad part is, most homebuyers took loans from the so-called “Big Four” state-owned banks.
That means it’s the public’s money being used.
Even when the project stops and the developer vanishes, the buyer still has to repay the loan —
and if they don’t, the court steps in and forces them to.
So honestly, I think Americans are lucky. Really, genuinely lucky.
You know what kind of slogans the Chinese government puts out?
“The happy Chinese people always care about the suffering Americans.”幸福的中国人时刻关心着水深火热的美国人
It’s laughable.
Because the truth is, many officials’ families live in the U.S. or Europe;
and the runaway developers often transfer their money to those same families.
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