Chinese officials have begun privately applauding the financing problems being experienced by the country’s bloated property sector. They hope this will let off steam and help prevent a dramatic bursting of a property bubble.

　　中国官员已私下开始为臃肿的国内房地产业所遭遇的融资困难叫好。他们希望这将起到釜底抽薪的作用，帮助防止地产行业出现戏剧性的泡沫破裂。

　　Investors have reacted with alarm to signs that Chinese developers are struggling to fund their operations – fearing it could presage a collapse of the sector.

　　有迹象显示，中国房地产开发商在获得经营所需的资金方面正遭遇困难，对此投资者在震惊之下作出反应，担心这种情况可能预示着该行业的崩盘。

　　This would have repercussions for the whole Chinese economy and hit one of the last remaining sources of growth for the stuttering global market.

　　那将对整个中国经济产生冲击波，使动荡不安的全球市场中仅存的增长源泉之一受到打击。

　　Two officials and a senior banker told the Financial Times that tightening measures over the past year had been aimed at choking off credit flows to poorly managed developers in China’s unruly housing market. They said it was a good thing these policies were now hitting their mark.

　　两位官员和一名高层银行家对英国《金融时报》表示，过去一年出台的各项收紧措施，目的就是要切断难以驾驭的中国楼市中管理不善的开发商的信贷流。他们表示，这些政策现在产生预期效果是一件好事。

　　Shares of Chinese property developers plunged last week after reports that the banking regulator had asked trust companies, which are important providers of financing in the sector, to examine risks in their lending to Greentown, a large builder in eastern China.

　　上周，中国地产开发商的股票出现暴跌，此前有报道称，中国银监会(CBRC)已责令信托公司评估其向华东大型建筑商绿城(Greentown)放贷的风险。信托公司目前是中国房产开发行业的重要融资来源。

　　With property transactions slowing dramatically and prices starting to fall, some investors think it is only a matter of time before Beijing backs down and re-opens credit channels for developers. But the officials said such a volte-face was unlikely.

　　在楼市成交量大幅放缓、价格开始下跌的情况下，一些投资者认为，北京方面改弦更张、重新开启开发商的信贷渠道只是时间早晚的问题。但上述官员表示，这样的政策“转身”不太可能发生。

　　“There are some developers who are facing funding pressure or have even been cut off. This is something we are happy to see,” one said.

　　“目前有一些开发商面临资金压力，甚至已被切断信贷。这是我们乐于见到的情况，”其中一名官员表示。

　　Developers were like “dragons and fish jumbled together”, he said, referring to a mixture of high and low-quality companies. A consolidation process was “very necessary”.

　　他表示，开发商“鱼龙混杂”（即优质和劣质企业都有）。某种整合过程“非常必要”。

　　A second official estimated that there were 50,000 property companies in China and that it was important for the market to work out the “survival of the fittest”.

　　另一位官员估计，目前中国有5万家房产企业，有必要让市场力量发挥作用，起到“适者生存”的效果。

　　Many property developers in China are small and privately owned. These are the most likely to go out of business first, allowing large state-controlled competitors to grab a bigger share of the market.

　　中国有许多房产开发商是小型和私有企业。此类企业最有可能率先破产，让政府控制的大型竞争对手占据更大的市场份额。

　　“Our concern is that we don’t want to see anything systemic. If a couple of real estate companies fail because of bad management practices, then they should fail,” said the official. “The banks who lent to them should be punished through higher non-performing loans. As long as that doesn’t become a big systemic crisis, that’s fine.”

　　“我们关注的问题是，我们不想看到任何系统性的情况。如果个把房地产公司因为管理不善而倒闭，那么它们应当倒闭，”这名官员表示。“向这些公司放贷的银行，应当收到不良贷款上升的惩罚。只要没有酿成一场大规模的系统性危机，就没有问题。”

　　Chinese housing prices soared from late 2008 to 2010, prompting concerns that a property bubble could trip up the fast-growing economy. The government has addressed these risks over the past year by raising mandatory mortgage downpayments and also ordering banks to lend less to developers.

　　从2008年末至2010年，中国楼价出现飙升，引发了人们的担忧：楼市泡沫可能绊倒快速增长的整体经济。过去一年间，政府采取措施应对这方面的风险，提高抵押贷款首付要求，并责令银行减少对开发商放贷。

　　To plug the lending gap, many property companies turned to trusts, which operate in a grey area in the Chinese financial system, but officials are now also closing off this funding avenue.

　　为弥补资金缺口，许多房地产企业转向活跃于中国金融体系灰色区域的信托公司，但官员们目前也在切断这一融资渠道。

　　An executive with a medium-sized state-owned bank said he saw no evidence of any relaxation in the clampdown. He thought the government wanted to see a process of “the big eating the small” in the property sector.

　　某家中等规模国有银行的一名高管称，他看不到任何证据显示收紧措施将会放松。他认为，政府希望看到房地产行业出现一个“大吃小”的过程。

　　There have been no big acquisitions of developers in the Chinese property market, but some consolidation has begun to occur as larger companies with more stable funding have expanded, while smaller players have struggled.

　　中国房产市场迄今没有大宗的开发商收购交易，但某种程度的整合已开始出现，拥有更稳定资金来源的较大型企业已经扩张，而规模较小的企业则步履维艰。

　　China’s biggest listed developers increased their nationwide market share from 9 percent to to 12 percent last year, a trend that has continued this year, according to Macquarie Securities.

　　根据麦格理证券(Macquarie Securities)的数据，中国最大几家上市开发商的全国市场份额去年从9%增至12%，这一趋势在今年仍在延续。