The Debt That Never Dies: China's Imperial Bonds

Enlarge this image GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images

More than a hundred years ago in the early part of the 20th century, China was booming, and the governments of the Imperial dynasty and the Republic of China that followed it were borrowing like crazy. A lot of foreign investors bought these bonds, which had very attractive rates of return.

Not everyone collected: China went through several regime changes, a revolution and a civil war, and the People's Republic of China that still rules China today refused to recognize the debt, let alone honor it. As a result, almost everyone has long since written these bonds off.

Still, some people see value in these old bond certificates. They've been buying them up, hoping to collect from China. They even met with the Trump Administration, making the case that the unpaid debt could be used to put pressure on China as part of the trade war. Tracy Alloway of Bloomberg News talks to Cardiff about the new relevance of these century-old bonds.

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