Shangqiu

In 2015, when Shangqiu, a municipality in central China about the size of Kentucky, laid out a plan for the next two decades, it positioned itself as a transportation hub with a sprawling network of railways, highways and river shipping routes.

By 2025, Shangqiu expects the coverage of its highway network to have increased by 87 percent.

Put another way: Shangqiu used more than a third of its tax revenue to pay interest on its debt.

On Feb. 23, the Shangqiu Communist Party secretary reiterated the city’s vision as a logistics power when celebrating a new partnership with a state-owned investment firm, which could help Shangqiu borrow money for even more projects.

The pandemic had hit it hard, the company said, and the Shangqiu government hadn’t provided subsidies that it had promised.