I suspect that there were armies of crooked managers that acted in their narrow self interest to simply grab the cash that was borrowed, as much as they could.

I suspect that there were armies of crooked managers that acted in their narrow self interest to simply grab the cash that was borrowed, as much as they could. They then exported this cash, often by buying good to export as naked cash was watched more closely than paid exports good. At the destination or anywhere, these goods could be sold -often at a loss - the object is to gain liquidity outside of China. This cash then bought assets, property, shares on foreign exchanges, and the thieves and heirs now have an out-of-China estate. Often some fall guy stayed in China on whom the axe may fall in time. The entire Chinese economy may now have this huge mass of uncollectible debts(Evergrande = tip of an iceberg) and over the next few years we will watch Evergrande and the rest of them spiral down the drain. This is, in many ways, reminiscent of the breakup of the USSR as the body of the people see how their glorious leaders have royally screwed them.