What China’s Banking Crisis Actually Looks Like

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China may be facing a banking crisis that looks nothing like a classic bank run. Instead of crowds rushing to withdraw cash, money is becoming harder to move, small rural banks are being dissolved or absorbed, and more bank funds are tied up in local-government debt.
At the same time, Chinese banks are doing very strange things to attract customers — turning branches into coffee shops, football lounges, pet centers, reading rooms, and even marriage-registration venues.
But beneath the absurdity is a much darker story. I also revisit the Henan village-bank scandal and a disturbing case circulating online involving a delivery worker allegedly linked to deliberate poisoning. 
 I look at what a “slow-motion bank run” really means, why hundreds of small banks are disappearing, how China’s banks became increasingly entangled with local governments, and what happens when financial anger begins spilling into society.
A bank run may already be happening in China — just without the run.

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