Wenzhou is the pacesetter of China's private economy; the Wenzhou phenomenon has drawn worldwide attention; and the people of Wenzhou are hailed as the Jews of the East.

       However, on July 9, 2014, an article titled "Wenzhou's 'Second Wave' of Crisis: Most Fell in Real Estate Investment" published by 21st Century Business Herald showed that Wenzhou, once the birthplace of the property speculation groups, has this time sunk into the mire of real estate. The continuous decline of housing prices nationwide, like falling dominoes, is spreading rapidly into Wenzhou's real economy. Since the beginning of this year, especially since June, several cases have been exposed of leading enterprises in Wenzhou's industries suffering broken capital chains or their owners "running away." Unlike the wave of private-enterprise crises in 2011, which was concentrated in platforms such as guarantee companies, almost all the enterprises involved this time had invested relatively deeply in real estate.

It cannot be denied that, under normal circumstances, investment usually carries risks. Yet in a certain sense, "most fell in real estate investment" really means that some "gamblers" in Wenzhou lost their bets this time, and lost heavily.

Everyone knows that, whether in real life or in historical teachings, people often remind themselves and warn others not to be gamblers, because the ultimate winners in gambling are usually not the gamblers themselves; instead, gambling brings greater or lesser harm to the gamblers and, to a certain extent, affects the stability of families and society.

In fact, the kind of gamblers who have entered the casino of China's sick real estate, as described in the news report above, can now be found across the whole of China, and the various gamblers created by the sick real estate industry have almost always, intentionally or not, pushed China's housing prices up to a level that ordinary people increasingly cannot afford, day by day affecting the stability of numerous Chinese families and of society. In other words, the negative impact of China's sick real estate is growing ever greater.

To be realistic, over the years the development of China's real estate industry has indeed met many people's housing needs, but under the abnormal combined forces of profit-obsessed real estate developers, housing agencies and commercial experts, as well as the sick land-finance system, China's real estate industry has long been seriously ill and is now beyond cure. Yet at present many local governments in China are still trying every means to feed real estate large doses of "aphrodisiacs" and "ginseng soup" in order to "rescue the market," attempting to make real estate show its prowess again and become a machine of windfall profits once more. Objectively, the decision-makers concerned and the local governments they lead are still happily dreaming the "gambler's" dream of over-reliance on and blind faith in land finance.

Of course, against the background of towering local debts, the need for political achievements and the desire to keep their official posts, it is understandable that some officials resort to such desperate measures.

But what they fail to realize is that such measures not only cannot fundamentally cure China's already terminally ill real estate industry, but will also accelerate its deterioration. At the same time, they will make China's economy, politics and society even more pathological. These are, in fact, basic common sense. Do some local decision-makers really not understand this?

In plain terms, many local decision-makers generally adopt a muddle-along mentality, so their decisions and actions often pay no regard at all to whether they are scientific or conducive to long-term healthy development.

What is thought-provoking, however, is that China's top leadership so far appears to "turn a blind eye and stop its ears." But it is entirely certain that some local decision-makers and the local governments they lead can no longer act as "gamblers" on the real estate issue; otherwise, the consequences will become increasingly serious.

It is also worth noting that, over the years, ordinary Chinese home buyers have objectively more or less all become "gamblers," and most people who intend to buy homes are step by step turning themselves into "gamblers."

In fact, for the vast majority of people who own only their own home, no matter how high housing prices rise, it has little to do with them, because once they sell their own home, the proceeds will in all likelihood not buy them a better one, and they may even find it hard to get one of comparable value. In other words, for the vast majority of home buyers, the residential function of a house is the most important, while investment value, appreciation and the like are basically of little practical significance to them.

As is well known, among a considerable number of ordinary Chinese home buyers, some live off their parents, some earn money by unscrupulous means, some are profit-obsessed, and some sell their bodies...

All of this is in fact the gambler's mentality and the gambler's behavior. It can even be said that the reason today's Chinese society is so distorted and so pathological is inseparable from the fact that many people, pressured to repay bank mortgages or otherwise repay the money for their homes, earn money by any means necessary.

However, groups including real estate developers, commercial experts and media lacking social responsibility keep telling people that investing in commercial housing is very worthwhile and that the appreciation space of China's commercial housing will only grow larger in the future, and so on. As a result, many people believe it and, intentionally or not, become "gamblers." In addition, some people in reality have indeed made money by flipping houses, so they become even more devoted to being "gamblers." For this, they will stop at nothing, even doing bad things or harming others.

In summary, I, Luo Shuyi, believe that China's sick real estate has created too many gamblers. Conversely, too many gamblers have made China's real estate even more pathological. Therefore, I suggest that China's top leadership call a halt as soon as possible to the various market-rescue words and deeds of local governments. At the same time, I hope more Chinese people will not become gamblers. Otherwise, the consequences in the future will be even more unimaginable.