China's private sector struggling with 'common prosperity', Covid-19 and financing; SOEs thrive | South China Morning Post

In January 2022, Xian, a city in northern China, was 22 days into a lockdown due to a Covid-19 outbreak, when two private hospitals were ordered by local authorities to suspend operations for three months. They were being punished for rejecting patients , citing Covid-19 control measures based on government orders, which led to the death of an unborn baby and a man from a heart attack. As soon as the decision was made public, the stock price of International Medical - the listed company behind the two hospitals - plummeted, leading to the suspension of trading in its shares…