Ask any senior executive at one of the mainland's big state-owned banks about how the government directs its lending, and he will be scandalised by your question.
When he's gotten over his initial shock, he will tell you that your ideas about how banking works on the mainland are not just out of date, but come straight from the Stone Age.
With infinite patience, he will explain that things have changed beyond all recognition over the last ten years. The days when China's banks were mere instruments of government policy, instructed by officials on which companies they should lend to regardless of creditworthiness or profitability, have long been consigned to the history books.
China's banks have been completely restructured, he will tell you, explaining that their shares are now listed on the stock exchange. These days, mainland banks are purely commercial organisations, run independently by professional managers dedicated to generating value for their shareholders.
Sure, the state still owns a sizable chunk of bank equity, but as a passive investor only. And like any other shareholder, the state is interested only in getting a decent return on its investment.
Just like banks in other big economies, Chinese banks make their lending decisions based on exhaustive credit assessments, governed only by considerations of risk and return. In fact, he may well hint, Chinese banks seem to be rather better at analysing risk than banks elsewhere. There was no financial crisis in China.