China: The Runaway Bosses of Wenzhou City · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Wenzhou, a city in southeastern Zhejiang province, has been a prosperous foreign trading port since early 19th century. Its citizens have migrated all over the world and small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) have been flourishing in the city since the Deng Xiaoping's open door policy in the 1970s. The term “Wenzhou model” has been used to describe the unregulated free market economic development in the region.
Recently a scandal broke out surrounding Wenzhou government officials who were involved in illegal loan sharking activities; it is estimated that billions of RMB have been trafficked out from banks in the city to the underground loan market and onto local SMEs.
Luggage factory, Wenzhou, China. Image by Malcolm M on Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
However, as a result of the economic downturn, the companies have been unable to pay the debt. So far more than 26 Wenzhou entrepreneurs have fled [zh] the country and the local government is pleading with the central government for help. In the past few days, ‘runaway bosses’ has become a trending term on various social media sites and many believe that Wenzhou bosses do not deserve any sympathy.
Young entrepreneur Song Zude comments [zh] on the situation on the Sina Weibo forum:
温州炒房团，该死！房价高涨主要原因是政府哄抬地价、狂追GDP，但温州炒房团也是罪人之一，十多年来，温州人在全国疯狂炒房，扰乱了当地房价，苦了当地百姓！许多温州老板不专心做实业，卷入炒房、虚拟经济、民间高利借贷，最终债务累累，“温跑跑”满世界逃，时候已到，恶有恶报！
There are more than 300 comments in Song's discussion thread, many expressing their anger towards Wenzhou speculators:
-浩米- 温州炒房，潮州炒地，银行炒息，房都没买，先比人轮奸一轮！(今天 09:39)
dengdaiyanguilai 就是啊！现在政府要救他们，那他们以前把全国人民的钱都挣完了，现在要救 ，以前的钱他们退、吐出来吗？ (今天 08:03)
靖江枫 温州籍老板们，国家受自然灾害袭击时你们在干什么？你们喝着拉菲红酒，开的是豪华跑车，抱的美女明星，而大部分钞票都靠投机倒把得来，被高利贷逼走的人有几个没参与这些勾当？(今天 03:15)
丹东晓程 温州炒房团倒霉之日，就是贫农下中农幸福之时。
本莫愁 炒高国内的，又跑去迪拜炒！结果赶上迪拜房地产业大跌，好多人栽里头！温八子们，拿着在国内炒房赚的钱，全跑国外去给人送钱，真害人不浅！(10月5日 14:59)
VanTssei 既然ZF创造了一个能叫你稳赚的垄断市场，有资本为什么不赚？本来炒房团就是ZF为了有房市资金介入而鼓励下的产物，炒房先驱而已。真心的，祖德就时事针砭时弊和对娱乐圈冷嘲热讽就算了，别扯太多你的副业。(10月5日 14:44)
State-run media, Chinese Central Television's finance commentator Niu Wenxin disagrees with the public sentiment and blames the United States (US) [zh] for the problem:
当中国不能继续紧缩货币之时，美国开始用最强力的手段逼人民币升值。什么意思？我们必须人民币升值就紧缩货币是同义词。去看看温州的情况吧，那就是紧缩的后果。但现在有人存心转移国人视线，把温州问题的原因引向温州老板的投机，贪婪、暴利等。这是混淆是非，是迫使中国经济走向死亡的手段！
In Niu's discussion thread:
poliwang 现在世界经济增长在放缓，国际大宗商品价格连续暴跌，中国的出口将会面临严峻的冲击，中国如果不马上停止紧缩政策而转向刺激内需，中国经济很可能出现200年时的断崖式滑坡和硬着陆！我们现在首要的问题是要多创造就业，避免出现中小企业大规模倒闭和大量的失业！ (10月5日 07:55)
清蒸_小老虎 温州地下金融资金链断裂的根源其实是金融系统的低效和利率的扭曲。再加上腐败和无效监管，于是形成了事实上的庞氏骗局，最终必然走向崩盘。信贷紧缩只是提早刺破了这个泡泡。毕竟当全民放贷开始出现时，我们应该知道离盛宴结束已经不远了。(10月5日 00:38)