Beware of Debt Termites Lurking In China

BEIJING – There is no better metaphor for the economic challenge facing China than the futuristic architectural masterpiece designed to house the country’s state television network, CCTV. A few months before the landmark building was to be completed in 2009, officials at the network conducted an unauthorized fireworks display, sparking a fire that consumed a smaller building in the complex, a wedge-shaped tower that Beijing’s residents had nicknamed the Termite’s Nest.