When Meng Qinghai, a cor- respondent for China Central Television, traveled to Shenzhen in July, he discovered a disturbing situation--one similar to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis had emerged in one of China"s most economically developed cities. Some home buyers there reported that they had stopped making their monthly pay-ments on their mortgages. The reason was simple: When their home prices dropped, their houses became negative assets.