When Tang Wanming, a 29-year-old Shenzhen resident, borrowed 100,000 yuan (HK$94,000) in August 1999 to finance his MBA in Germany, he did not realise he was breaking new ground.
The loan, which paid for his year abroad, made him the first beneficiary of an overseas education loan in China.
The smart investment, as mainlanders call overseas study, brought Mr Tang rewards. Within a month of returning, he had a job in the asset-management department of a security company and will be able to repay the loan within a year.
Mr Tang also found a wife during his studies. Zhou Min, five years his junior, was an MBA classmate. After graduation, he persuaded her to marry him and return to Shenzhen.
Borrowing from the bank - a concept that is alien to Chinese tradition - is rapidly finding favour. Last year, the Shanghai branch of the state-owned Industrial Bank lent 25 billion yuan. One-third of it was in personal loans.
'In the past, people were reluctant to borrow money for personal use,' said Sun Weidong, the Industrial Bank's Shanghai branch spokesman. 'Now they are grasping the concept fast.'
