The Chinese economy, with nearly 300% of GDP in debt, is on the brink of its first major corporate crisis.

The second largest construction company, Evergrande, may face a default after reaching a total debt of 1.97 trillion yuan ($ 305 billion).

Evergrande's two largest non-bank lenders have demanded immediate repayment of some of the loans amid reports of a potential default by the company.

On Friday, the national clearing center CSDC cut the company's securities from the repo market. The inability to pledge Evergrandе bonds and get financing for them caused panic among investors.

Evergrande bonds fell sharply on Monday, prompting the Shanghai Stock Exchange to suspend trading. The drop in securities was caused by a decrease in the company's credit rating by the national agency Chengxin.

If Evergrande goes bankrupt, it will set off a chain of upheavals in the financial sector, the social sector, the real estate market and everything connected with it.

Last week the international rating agency Moody’s downgraded the outlook for Chinese developers to “negative”, citing falling sales, liquidity risks and a snowball of debt, which is becoming increasingly difficult to refinance.

Things are bad.

Video by World Economic Forum

China's tech big business is listening to President Xi Jinping's calls for "smart adjustments to excessive incomes" and to encourage wealthy citizens to "give back to society," writes CNBC.

The largest companies actually force them to make multibillion-dollar donations and investments in various sectors of the economy.

Specifically, e-commerce giant Alibaba plans to invest 100 billion yuan ($ 15.5 billion) over the next few years. They are required to realize the idea of ​​"common prosperity". These funds will go to 10 government initiatives, including technological innovation, economic development, the creation of quality jobs, as well as support for vulnerable groups.

"Alibaba has been the beneficiary of China's significant socio-economic progress over the past 22 years. We are convinced that if both society and the economy are doing well, then Alibaba will be doing well," said CEO Daniel Zhang.

Other Chinese tech giants have also pledged to fund the government's plan.

Last month, video game maker Tencent announced plans to pay 100 billion yuan ($ 15.5 billion) to support social initiatives. This money will go towards rebuilding rural areas and increasing the incomes of the poor. The company said its actions are in response to China's "national strategy".

The founders of Pinduoduo, Meituan and Xiaomi have also donated billions of dollars in social welfare.

Interesting.

We generally assume that the world is becoming a better place every year. But when it comes to individual freedoms, the opposite is true. Most studies show humanity is now less free than several years ago.

20 years ago we had decentralized Internet and a relatively unrestricted banking system. Today, Apple and Google censor information and apps on our phones while Visa and Mastercard limit what goods and services we can pay for. Every year we give up more power and control over our lives to a handful of unaccountable corporate executives we didn't elect.

Most of us willingly carry tracking devices – our phones – and allow corporations to use our private data to target us with content that keeps us distracted with low-quality entertainment. Unlike 20 years ago, we are now surrounded by surveillance cameras, which in countries like China use AI to make sure nobody can hide.

In 2017, China overtook the US as the largest economy in the world by purchasing power, showing the world that individual freedoms are not required for economic development. Looking at China's success, more countries become authoritarian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World#Trends), curbing essential human rights such as freedom of speech, movement and assembly.

Who is going to fix it?

The most active and creative minds of our generation are too busy playing in the rapidly shrinking sandbox called "free enterprise" or producing digital content to keep everyone else glued to their devices for longer. The rest seem to be too distracted with the abundance of cheap digital entertainment to critically assess the trend and take action.

Watching this, I wonder what will become the legacy of our generation. Will we go down in history as those who let free societies turn into dystopian nightmares? Or will we be remembered as those who defended the freedoms that previous generations fought so hard to win?