Chinese Investors Protest as Lending Industry Collapses

Private lending firms in China have been going bankrupt one after another. The bankruptcies have prompted mass protests by thousands of people who have lost their savings or are now victims of fraud. Many of the firms had been taking advantage of lax or ineffective government regulations to siphon off the cash.

In this file photo, a worker counts currency in a bank in Shanghai, China. There have been a string of failures by private lending firms in China, leaving those who had invested their savings in the companies protesting to get their money back. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Private lending firms in China have been going bankrupt one after another. The bankruptcies have prompted mass protests by thousands of people who have lost their savings or are now victims of fraud. Many of the firms had been taking advantage of lax or ineffective government regulations to siphon off the cash.

On Jan. 11, several thousand people gathered in Xi'an, capital of western China’s Shaanxi Province, to protest their losses at the hands of the lending companies. Hundreds of police, backed up with dozens of vehicles, monitored them.

"I heard the money ended up in America. It'll be very difficult to get it back."

— Ms. Li, Investor in Da Ren Financial Consulting Company