China's cash-strapped small firms ring alarm bells

 　　BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- China's small businesses turned to be the first to ring the alarm as the country is walking a fine line between fighting inflation and maintaining growth.

　　Some entrepreneurs have disappeared and others have jumped off buildings almost every week since April in Wenzhou City, an entrepreneurial capital in eastern China's Zhejiang province, Xinhua reported.

　　The sudden disappearance¹ of the business owners has revealed a surprisingly gloomy picture for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China.

　　RUNAWAY² BOSSES

　　According to a Xinhua investigation³, at least 80 cash-strapped businesspeople in Wenzhou have skipped town or declared bankruptcy⁴ to invalidate more than 10 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in debt.

　　Just last month, two local entrepreneurs in Wenzhou killed themselves by jumping off the buildings and another broke his leg in a similar suicide attempt.

　　The tragedies in Wenzhou are extreme cases of private SMEs struggling to survive a liquidity⁵ crunch⁶ amid the country's macro control policies set to curb⁷ inflation and cool down the over-heated property market.

　　In Wenzhou, one-fifth of the 360,000 small and mid-sized businesses have stopped operating due to cash shortages, according to the city's council for small and medium-sized enterprises.

　　Of the 855 companies surveyed by the Wenzhou Economic and Information Commission, more than 76 percent said they are almost out of money and are struggling to continue production.

　　But many cash-strapped firms are unable to borrow money from banks, and some have turned to China's underground lending market to pool money from individuals and firms.

　　The steep rates of the informal loans pushed some businesses to the brink⁸ of collapse⁹.

1 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

2 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

6 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

7 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

8 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。