China’s Banks Are Running Out of Cash — Here’s What’s Really Going On

Hello everyone. Hi, welcome to Le's Real Talk. All right, let's get started. Wow, we have some old Wumau returning. Okay, well, I leave all of them to you, Chris. [laughter] [gasps] Okay. [sighs] Well, let's keep talking about China's economy. Its banking system is running out of cash. On the surface, everything looks calm. Branches are open. Official numbers look healthy, quote unquote healthy. Bad loan ratios remain low and liquidity liquidity appears stable. But if you pull back one layer, there's a very different picture. China's large and small banks are all bleeding cash and their real operating cash flow has turned deeply negative. Um they survive only by absorbing deposits and borrowing from the central bank. And now the crisis is no longer just in the balance sheets. It's spilling into the real world. You probably have heard that China's banks, including state-owned giants, are rushing to sell real estate in what's called uh bank direct sale. So why are banks acting like lenders? Uh why are they acting like landlords? They are acting less like lenders but more like landlords, right? Trying to liquidate assets before it's too late because there's a cash flow crisis and a confidence crisis all hitting um the country's banking system at the same time. So tonight I'm going to show you what the official data highlights. It's actually all coming from official data um or the bank's public published financial data and and explain why banks um selling houses uh or selling properties may be the clearest sign yet that the country's financial financial system is nearing a critical point. All right, let's see. The wows are behaving. Yes. So far so good, Chris. All right. Okay. They're here. Okay. Well, as long as they behave. Now, as you all know, ever since China's real estate bubble burst in 2021, the fallout has been disastrous, right? Major developers collapsed one after another. Local financing platforms followed and a debt storm has been sweeping the country ever since. Companies up and down the entire property chain or the real estate sector went bankrupt um triggering massive unemployment and widespread mortgage defaults. At the same time, China has been heading toward decoupling with the west. multinational companies are pulling out um with both their money and supply chains and all of these problems are eventually um or have eventually landed on one place, the banks. A debt crisis is at its core a cash flow crisis for the banking system. So when companies fail, um when home owners stop making payments, when capital leaves the country, all of those hit the bank's cash flow directly. Um in theory, Chinese banks should have been a should have yeah should have been hit should have taken a huge hit from the economic crash. um whether there are big banks or small banks, they should be under tremendous cash flow pressure. Uh and many should be bankrupt by now. But on the surface, China's banking sector looks eerily calm. The only uh major development that we've seen in the past two years has been the wave of rural commercial bank mergers. roughly over 500 of them um got consolidated. So it looks as if only small rural banks have been affected and once they were absorbed into larger ones, the problem magically disappeared. People believe that the large state-owned giant banks are too big to fall. This is what Beijing want us to believe. And according to the National Administration of Financial Regulations, the overall bad loan ratio is just 1.49%. Almost the same as 5 years ago, which would suggest the sector is still healthy. Um if you look at the official data like liquidi liquidity coverage, capital ad adequacy, um and other indicators, everything looks okay on paper. Um but we know that's not true, right? If you only rely on official numbers, it's hard to find proof. So, um, I'm going to show you what a Chinese financial analyst did when he cut through the fog and find the truth behind those numbers. So, let me give you his conclusion directly. it is that China's big six stateowned banks as well as the smaller joint stock banks um and the large rural commercial banks all of them are already in a state of real and severe loss their cash flow is in reality already broken and in any normal country they would have gone bankrupt long ago in China they're surviving only because everything is tightly controlled from on the top. So, um, before I go through the numbers, I'd like to sum up China's banking crisis by giving you an example. Here's the example. Imagine a restaurant that brings in $1 million a month, but spends 1.5 million. That means it's losing 500 half million dollars in cash every month. Obviously, it can survive, but the um but the owner came up with two strategies to stay afloat. First, he borrows 300,000 from relatives. Second, he sells prepaid uh restaurant cards to customers, offering discounts to get people to put money into the store. So, a group of customers end up buying 200,000 worth of $200,000 worth of prepaid cards. And these prepaid cards are essentially debt, right? their restaurant, the restaurant owes meals later. So together those two inflows um the which add up to $500 thou $500,000 isn't enough to plug uh the month's cash deficit, but the next month the business has the same problem all over again. If um if it doesn't control cost or if it it's not able to bring in more customers and then it will need to borrow more right um attract more prepaid customers and trying to borrow more money to meet the earlier obligations. So this cycle forces the business deeper into a debt hole. eventually um the debt will become unpayable and the restaurant will go under. So this example is everywhere in real life in China. Now um a 500 the the idea is a 500,000 in my case dollars but in China's case y a 500,000 yen loss is a real 500,000 loss. borrowing or taking deposits does not fix the business model. It only delays the collapse. That's essentially what's been happening in China's banks. So on paper, it looks like it has enough cash flow, but how much of that is borrowed or deposits from customers? We need to calculate the bank's true operating cash flow to understand how deep the hole really is. So, take a look at this cash flow statement from the Bank of China. Um, make this bigger. No, make this bigger. Yeah. And the red box indicates data for the bank and the column to the left is the bank's parent company's financial data. Um, well, we're only interested in the in the bank itself. So, I transcribed the bank's data into the spreadsheet. I translated into English so it's easier for you to to see. Okay, let me make this. So, um this my my logo is blocking the numbers. Anyway, that's okay. So, um the numbers, by the way, the numbers are in millions. Yeah. Now the sections I highlighted in green shaded in green represent uh represents Bank of China's actual operating income. There are cash from well actually there the there are the cash inflows generated from operating income. So there are cash from interest, fees, commissions and other operating activities. So for banks, true revenue comes from lending, earning interest and charging fees for transfers, settlements and advisory services. um other cash inflows there are only um deposits coming in or loans from the central bank or other financial institutions. So technically those uh count as operating cash inflow under accounting rules, but just like the restaurant example I gave you, they're not real operating uh cash inflows. They only mass the problem and eventually make the cash um the cash crunch worse. So take a look at the red boxes, right? Bank of China's customer deposits increased by 995 uh million yuan. So near nearly 1 billion yan in the first half of the year. Um borrowing from central bank increased by another 423 million. So these inflows are gigantic and they seem to strengthen cash flow. But again they're not real business uh they're not real cash flow generated by business by business income like the example I gave they are other people's money um so we should not in include them when we calculate um true operating performance and on the expense side the categories mar uh are marked in pink their real operating expenses interest paid, fees and commissions paid, staff compensation, taxes, and other operating costs. So, using these definitions, um, this Chinese analyst pulled the true operating cash flow data for all six major state-owned banks from 2018 to the first half of this year. And what the table shows is very interesting. I don't know if you're able to read it, but it's kind of small. Maybe. Yeah. Okay. Um, take a look at the circled line at the bottom. It's for the first half of this year. If you look carefully, right? because we calculated the cash in flows and then the cash outflows and then we we we derived at the net cash flow. If it's red, it means it's um it's negative. It mean the bank had negative cash inflow. If it's black, if it's in the black, that means it's a positive net operating cash flow. So out of the six gigantic banks um only one only Bank of China still had a slightly positive net operating cash flow which is about 10 billion yuan. The other five are all deeply negative. Um in the first half alone in the first half of the year alone um ICBC uh the world's largest bank lostund 103 billion yen in real operating cash flow and then um China construction bank lost 91 billion. These are catastrophic numbers. Um, you may notice something odd because I also compared uh the first half of 2024. It's the last line in the spreadsheet. Um, ICBC had negative cash flow of 59 billion in the first half of 2024, but its fullear number turned positive at 143 billion. So if you com Yeah, the the 143 I know it's tiny. Um it's the number right above the red number, right? Because it's chronologically by year. So yeah, so the first half of 2024 was a uh a negative cash flow of 59, but the whole year was a positive 143. So why? Well, because the bank's biggest expense is deposit interest. So to reduce losses, bank Chinese banks started slashing deposit rates. Um um I believe I believe it was on July 25th last year. They cut rates um and then they cut it again on October 18th and then again uh in May this year. So as a result the interest rate on demand uh on deposit demand deposit fell from 0.2% to 0.05% basically it's zero it's not even 1% it went from 02% to 05% and when your fixed deposits dropped from 1.45% four or 5% to uh a little under 1% like at 0.95%. But even these aggressive rate cuts couldn't stop the bleeding. The six major banks are are below or barely at the survival line and there's no path back. So now let's do something interesting. and let's combine all six banks into one hypothetical mega bank. And when you do that, the trend becomes even clearer. So that's this um yeah, this is bigger. Uh the combined net operating cash flow peaked at 1.432 trillion in 2020. As the real estate bubble bust or burst, the number plunched, falling to 777 billion in 2023, then to 391 billion in 2024 and to just um and then it turned red, right? and then it turned to negative in the first half of um this year. So you see the downward trend continued um from from a posit from the positive to a negative, right? Um now deposit rates can be cut much further. They're already at near zero levels. So people will simply withdraw their money, buy other assets like gold or other precious metal or anything they could get their hands on or keep cash at home. Um because at least they have the money under their pillow. Uh some people have problems getting money out of the banks. So there's no point of keeping the money in the bank because one, you're not earning interest. two, you have the risk of not take not being able to take them out. So that will trigger bank runs. And if one bank cuts rates while others don't, you will see a classic prisoners dilemma. uh one, you know, I cut rates and lose deposits. You raise rates and uh take my deposits away, forcing me into bankruptcy, right? So, so this is we've already seen early signs of these vicious competition happening. So, what does that tell us? Well, the banks have run out of moves. All they can do is wait for the cash to dry up. Now to go further, the analyst also pulled data for the three uh joint stock banks. They are regional banks. Um but there's there's there also the large banks in China. Um Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Puing Ping Bank and China Ming Bank. Their cash flow deficits are also massive. Um, SPD lost almost 34 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Pingan lost 14 billion and Ming lost 1 billion. Now, Pingan and Ming both sit inside larger financial groups which popped propped up their um their um bottom line last year, giving them a one-time boost. But no financial group can fight the gravity of a collapsing economy. So this year the true situation is starting to show or is showing through. Okay. Next let's look at two major rural commercial banks. Um and here they are and they don't look good. So they are the Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank. Uh they're the better performing ones. They're smaller banks, but their numbers are worse. Um, in 2024, they both had negative cash flow, losing 400 million and 600 million, respectively. Uh, you probably can't tell cuz I rounded them off. And then in 2025, their losses ballooned to uh nearly 1 billion and 6.2 billion. Now, rural commercial banks have very thin capital buffers. They simply can't survive ongoing cash flow deficits. If either one collapsed tomorrow, people wouldn't be surprised. Um, and then let's do something that's interesting. Let's treat all these 11 banks as one single bank. um because they vary greatly in size. Let's adjust the numbers by weighting them. So here's the weight that this financial analyst assigned. So 60% for the big six, 30% for the joint stock banks, and 10% for the rural banks. when weighted this way their combined operating cash flow um let me show you by the way I don't I don't think the financial analyst got the weighted numbers right because I I recalculated the the weighted net cash flow I think his somehow his numbers doesn't make sense so um uh I I will provide the original his original work in the description in the link after this live But anyways, this is the number I derived. It shows the same curve, but the numbers uh his numbers are off. Anyways, um so if you look at this, their combined operating cash flow peaked at 942 billion UI in 2020, struggled downward to 512 billion in 2023, fell to 339 billion last year, and finally sank to negative uh territory in the first half of this year. So remember these 11 banks are the strongest in their respective banking sector. If even they can generate positive operating cash flow, the rest of the banking system must be in worse shape. So that means one thing, China's banking industry is losing money and liquidity. Um banks rely heavily on cash flow. Once real operating cash turns negative, they collapse faster than almost any other type of business. Uh, and counting on central bank to print money to rescue the entire system is unrealistic. Like I showed you last Thursday, the People's Bank of China has already spent the last 12 months quietly absorbing over six trillion UN of government bonds to prevent a sovereign debt meltdown. So trying to support a banking system with over 400 trillion yen in assets will require unimaginable amounts of freshly printed money. So people can't even begin to estimate the scale. Um but this is this is the impossible problem now sitting in front of the central bank. Whether they print money or not they really don't have a choice. Um, and that is the situation China's economy faces today. And what are the banks going to do to survive? Well, let me come back. Well, they're selling [clears throat] collaterals for cash. Um, China's banks are now selling homes, too. Recently, large state-owned banks like Agriculture Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications along with city commercial banks and rural commercial banks across the country have been listing properties in bulk on JD.com. um Alibaba's uh judicial auction platforms and other asset disposable or as yeah as asset disposal sites. These listings cover everything. Apartments, office buildings, retail spaces, uh even factories, they have everything there. Now think about it. In just a few years, banks have gone from being the financial big bosses with trillions in lending power to becoming reluctant landlords, taking over failed collateral and now into desperate sellers trying to turn those assets back into cash. So these shifting roles review not just the pain inside China's property market but also the the the chain reactions spreading through the entire financial system. And these properties whether they're homes, shops or factory buildings are all collateral seized from unpaid loans. Uh people call them bank direct sales or bank direct properties. [snorts] Uh and you see a lot of the regional banks like uh Lanjo Bank, Jing Bank, Tenzing Bank, uh Dalian Bank, you know, all these municipal banks, Harbing Bank, they're all selling. And then the big state-owned banks are also selling, but compared with the sheer volume listed by the local banks, their numbers looked small. Um the bulk of the listings came from um rural commercial banks and municipal banks. In some provinces, the ro the rural credit cooperatives have listed thousands even tens of thousands of properties for sale. So according to Chinese state media the for example the sutran rural credit system currently has close to 25,000 properties for sale. Guangong has 12,000. Leoning has 11,000. Guo has 9500. Jilling has 2400 and Fuian has 600. So, and and these numbers um just keep going. They're adding. And then data from Alibaba Asset Auction and JD Asset Exchange um platforms show that since the start of the year, bank supplied listings, uh including homes. Oh, not just prop real estate properties. Cars are also included. Cars and other assets have increased significantly on Ali's platform alone. bank direct properties scheduled for auction for auction between November 1st and November 11 between those 10 days or 11 days rose 25% when compared with last year and jumped 78% when compared with the previous month. Um and so a risk control manager at a regional bank explained it like this. He said in the fourth quarter many banks are speeding up asset disposal to recover as much cash as possible before closing the year end books. Um now one thing stands out immediately bank sold properties are cheap. They are 20 to 30% below market price sometimes even more. So why are banks willing to take such losses just to dump these assets? Well, the reasons are obvious, right? To to have um to have some some level of um to to improve their liquidity. Now um the the both mortgage defaults um and business loan defaults are rising while real estate prices are falling. That means the collateral meaning property is piling up inside the banking system and their values are quickly falling. So the banks are want to get rid of them before they become worthless, right? And and and then they have so many this this seized assets are massive in scale. Um and there's a Chinese business portal called shows that by mid 2025 uh for example Chinda Chinda Rural commercial bank's bad loan ratio in the real estate sector surged from 7% to a staggering 21%. So that's just one bank in China in Shandong in in 2025. Yeah. So that means 20% of the balon ratio could you imagine is 21%. Other banks aren't doing much better. And for real estate loans the non-performing ratios are okay here I have some numbers. Chenjo banks is 9.75%. Chongqin Bank 7.2% Hjo Bank 6.4% The Agriculture Bank of China 5.4% China Merchants Bank 4.6% Bank of China 5.4%. ICBC 5%. So these are high. Um and also it takes forever to go through the auction the traditional judicial auctions. It takes too long. It takes two years. And and it and it's clogged right now because of the sheer volume. Um and so the banks are being forced to find faster liquidation channels and so doing it themselves is simply more efficient. Um and and here is just some numbers. In June alone, 32,000 properties were listed for judicial auction, but only 3,200 were sold. That's a shocking 10% transaction rate. So, even these um these auctions are not generating any results for the banks. So, that's why they're acting on their own and they're selling these properties at an additional 20 to 30% uh discount. And so so here are some more numbers on the um on the judicial auctions. Uh the clearance rate is 22.8% and total transaction value is down by 22.5%. Average transaction price is down 12%. Average discount is 74%. So these are these are the numbers that give the banks um the incentive to sell the properties on their own. So would it work? Well, from the policy perspective, banks selling properties makes sense, right? the direction is right um and the response is timely, but the actual results are far from guaranteed because in a sluggish market buyers are they're just there there are just no buyers. Um and so failed auctions are becoming the norm. So for example uh many Landro Bank properties have been listed more than 10 times meaning that they failed to sell as an auction 10 times already. So in many ways banks becoming holders and now sellers of physical assets is not a strategic choice. It's a forced move driven by their in you know increasing liquidity risk right so China's banking crisis is not a mystery once you follow the cash and behind the official numbers is a system under immense stren strain and um it's temporarily propped up by deposit inflows central bank support and rapid asset disposals. But bank selling properties is not a strategy. It's a sign. It's a sign that liquidity is seriously uh an issue and and also confidence is fading. So what comes next will depend on how long the system can hold and um and how far Beijing is willing to go to keep it running. [clears throat] So we'll continue watching this closely. All right, as always, thank you for joining me on this deep dive. I want to before I thank people for the super stickers, I want to mention that I released a video, a Yumolone video, Alan Yu. Um, that video took me forever to make because it's just very very it's very emotionally difficult. Um and also the story has gone from from what it was into so many dimensions. Now it has become a metaphysical it has become a yeah a metaphysical investigation. Uh psychics from different parts of the world speaking different languages are now helping the Chinese investigate what's what really happened. So it has become a um a a a superstitious a crime a crime story. Yeah. Um bridging the real world and the supernatural forces. So it's it's a little challenging but anyways I'm glad that I did the video because it need the it needs to be the the the topic needs to be addressed. All right. So, let me see. Let me see what people have. Are the wows behaving themselves? Are they They're here. Oh. Oh, this dumbf dump. What? I don't know how to pronounce. He's back. All right. China is internationalizing its currency. Oh no, the London Metal Exchange just um uh banned trading in Chinese currency, right? It's it's it's um only dollar is being traded in LME, the London Metal Exchange, the world's largest metal exchange platform uh or trading platform. So if anything, Remy B is not getting the international exposure it wants to. Okay. Um Oh, I see some interesting dialogues going on here. I was I'm surprised that my video about Madame Shei didn't get much view. I thought that people would love to get information on her. Yeah, it didn't get as much view as the video on like Li Kang's death or even Faian, the mis the the famous or the infamous mistress of Chinga. Yeah, why do you think people aren't that interested in Madame Shei? I thought Chris did a phenomenal job editing that video. Donald Jong, "Thank you, Lelay, for exposing the CCP's dirty deeds and keeping us informed." Well, thank you, Donald. Thank you. All right. Okay. Here's a question from Lily. Lily's dad, Lei. There are many sellers, but who are the buyers? Who has money to buy? Good question. There aren't many buyers. That's my point. There aren't many buyers. Even though the price the banks the properties being sold by the banks are so much lower. I mean, some are like half, you know, some are cutting half. Um, but people are still not buying because there are everyone who has them. Everyone who can afford a home has already got a home and those who don't have a home still do not have the money to buy to buy one. So, there's no market, there's no demand. Yeah. So, it's not looking good. because they have built too many properties there some interesting comments. Oh, from Wuma. The Wuma is acting up. All right. Well, okay. All right. Let's see questions. David Lan. Oh, hi. Welcome back, David. The company responsible for the recent bridge collapse, Suchan Bridge and Road Group, is bidding to take contracts in the Philippines. Thoughts? Um, I made a video about the building collapse in Thailand in Yeah. and uh during the earthquake and it was the only high-rise building that collapsed during the built by the Chinese. So, and I think it was one of the belt and row project. So, any country that's still considering hiring a Chinese construction company to build their buildings or or anything infrastructure, you should think twice. It only spells trouble later on. Um people have shown videos of that bridge before the collapse that the the supporting columns uh was resting was not was only resting on rocks. It was not it it was like it it flows. I I don't know. I I think you know you can't really blame the construction workers because they're not properly paid. Here's my theory. China will experience we already see this. China is experienced massive infrastructure failure and um and and min and building failures because the old infrastructure and the old buildings need maintenance work and they have not been they have not been properly maintenance or serviced because of one the lack of proper procedure and two um the the lack of funding by municipal government to pay the people to do proper maintenance work not just maintenance but also inspection. So the old buildings are not inspected or or or maintained and then the newly constructed buildings or infrastructure in the past four years um during COVID are not built according to um the right standard. They they they they shouldn't pass any safety inspection. So both new and old buildings and infrastructure projects have problems. So these are public safety hazard that the Chinese people are living with. They include bridges, highways, um and and even roads, not just highways. Yeah. Even municipal roads and and also buildings, they're all problems. The only thing even the municipal buildings, even government buildings, I question if they're properly built because the workers are not happy, right? So, I don't know. It's just um they're all public safety hazard to me. That's what I don't recommend people go to China because you don't know what what will fall from the sky. It's problems. Okay. Let's see questions. Okay. I feel so sad for the Chinese people who have only [snorts] rights to do nothing. I agree with you. Well said. Very sad if you have to live there. Okay, Drasilla. Have you heard of the artist? I heard he has a painting which he collaborated on with a neon artist in the US. His painting is said to be valued at blah blah blah. Does that sound legitimate to you? It's it's hyped. I I don't think there are I think the true artists in China are not being recognized for their talent and the ones that are famous I don't know if what they have is art. Um yeah so do not spend if you're presented with opportunities to invest in Chinese art industry. Not worth it. They're worth they're worth nothing to me. It they're all hyped just like China's real estate. And yeah, I haven't even heard of him. Someone said, "Your followers in the chat need a nickname." Hm, that's a good suggestion. DGlass 28 2008 I heard rumors of a duplicate, triplicate, and possibly quadrupled serial numbers on UN notes. How can China be running out of money, especially if all money is digitized? Yeah, there are videos um going viral a year ago showing showing bills showing identical serial numbers. Um yeah because the the minting the minting company the factory that prints the bill the bills are uh corrupt they print two sets of bills one for one set for themselves and one set for the central bank and that's the problem we have in China. [snorts] All right, Turtoy Turtoy 950, your Alan Vu video was very well made. Thank you. Well, thank you for for saying that. I put in my heart and soul in making that video because it's such a sad story and it's so evil. I have to use the word evil. There's nothing like it. All right, Brian Cobb. May China be able to use its 2.3 metric tons of gold reserves to stabilize their banking system. In theory, that's a legitimate statement. Yes, they can. But in practice, where are the massive amount of gold reserves? because as much as the central government wants to uh uh control this massive gold reserves, but they're in different people's hands and people are not letting go. So you you have, you know, you have the S so that are owning some of the gold. You have military owning some of the gold. You have private citizens or um or different princling or different red families controlling some of it. They're not giving up. And so who is Xiinping or whoever the new leader is to tell them what to do with their gold reserves? So it's so that question only exists uh on paper and it doesn't happen in practice because people are not letting go. All right. DBBJ 2V. All right. Question. Does the CCP even have enough money to wage war? Uh the question is it's a very good question. No, I think I I need to ask a question back. By whose standard? How do you define having enough money? By our standard? No. CCP doesn't have enough money. By CCP's standard, it always does because it can always take money from the from the private citizens and it doesn't it doesn't care if its people is suffering from poverty or or hunger. So the enough money um statement depends on whose definition you're referring to. Okay. Um, here's a question from Renderless Character PM. Hello Le. Do you think eliminating cash in China was good or bad? It's not good. Um, uh, actually there's a trend. You know, Chinese young people are using more and more cash this year. I saw that in a in a in a a recent report. two weeks ago, the young Chinese in their the college the recent college grads and even the college students are resorting to cash um more than before. The reason is one they do not want their government to track what they buy. Number two, they want to better control their finances because it's so much easier to, you know, use We um WeChat pay or Ali Pay, you know, to to buy things. But when you actually use cash to buy things, they have to think. So more and more young Chinese are resorting to cash now. And I think that's a good trend. That's a good thing. I hope more people in the West follow suit. I think we need to I I think we need to go back to cash. And also some Chinese have suffered um during the time when there's power outage, you know, when the apps do not work. What are you going to do when when your cell phone run, you know, when no apps work, you have to still have to buy something. So cash is getting popular in China now. Yeah. Ricky M, appreciate your voice, Lelay. Could you please elaborate on your comment warning about New York mayor elect Mami and communism? I'm generally curious to hear um well, he broke his promises, right? He asked people not to donate to his campaign, but immediately after he won, he asked people to donate. I mean, why? I mean, you you won the campaign and now you're asking asking people to donate money to you so that you could do your job. It doesn't make sense. It should be the other way around, right? I mean, politicians, they ask for donation during the campaign and they and then they ask people to stop donating after they won. So why did he this pattern is pro very problematic to me you know when he asked people to stop donating money to him when he's campaigning that's strange that means he's got money from other people that he's he's wellunded probably from some organizations right not individuals but then as soon as he won he asked people to start giving him money. And why, you know, you should do your job now that we send you to office. You should do your job. Why Why does he ask people to give him money? That's like the first thing he he asked to do. It doesn't make sense. It's it spells it's it smells fishy there. Um, yeah. And I think New Yorkers need to reflect on, [clears throat] you know, reflect on why they send this person to um to run their city. So, it's Yeah, that's all I will say. I mean, I'm just picking on his his donation. Um his [clears throat] donation doesn't sound right to me. Okay. Someone's delay is it safe to visit China if you are a US citizen. Um, if you okay if you must visit China, I have a fan who is a commercial pilot who occasionally goes to China and I advise him not to bring his American cell phones with him when he's on his China trip or I mean he can bring the phones with him but do not turn them on when you're in China. Do not use the Chinese Wi-Fi. Instead, use a local phone. If you have to if you have to use a phone, use a Chinese local phone. Um, do not mix your US phone with your Chinese Wi-Fi. It's best not to bring your US [snorts] phone to China with you. So, you ask me, is it safe to visit China? Uh, I mean, what I worry about the infrastructure. What if something fell from a high-rise building while you walk on the street in Shanghai or Beijing? You know, it's the situations like that that I worry about. Um because you never know when they will happen because these high-rise buildings are not properly they're not properly inspected or maintained. Um especially after so many multinational companies have pulled out of China. These buildings are empty. The landlords are the banks trying to sell them. So these these are all public safety hazard to me. [laughter] And so that's what I worry. If you're my family, I tell you don't go, you know. But if you absolutely have to go, I can't stop you. But I would say do not bring your American or Canadian or whatever Australian cell phones with you. Um or do not turn it on as you go there. Yeah. As when you are in China. Uh okay. All right. We had fun. We had fun with the numbers. All right. Lelay. If someone pass Zword, is it true that the Hongchi name of that bridge that recently collapsed translate to red flag in English? Yes, it the name is ominous. It's called red flag. Yeah. But Hongchi is a very popular CCP jargon, right? It has a car. It has a limo line with that name red flag because the CCP is famous for its red flags. CCP itself is a red flag. Yeah. But that name may not be the best to to may not be the best to give to a uh bridge. All right. Well, thank you. Someone say your topics are so interesting. You know, one of my challenges is not knowing what topic to pick because there's so many things happening in China. You know, what do I pick? What do I talk about? I mean, there is that the Japanese Oh, I was maybe I'll talk about that over the weekend. Um the the the Chinese council general making threats to the Japanese PM. Um and there's so many happenings. Maybe over the weekend. Yeah, I'll I'll address that. Uh, all right. That's all for tonight. I thank you for joining me and I'll see you on Saturday. All right. Bye.