Hundreds of depositors have raced to pull their cash from a small rural bank in eastern China, forcing local officials to take emergency measures to calm the panic after the bank run began to spread.

在始于中国江苏省一家地方银行的挤兑事件开始出现蔓延苗头后，当地官员不得不采取紧急措施平息储户的恐慌情绪。

Coming just weeks after the first true default in the Chinese bond market, the run on Jiangsu Sheyang Rural Commercial Bank is the latest sign of growing stresses in the country’s financial system.

过去数天里，数百名储户争相从江苏射阳农村商业银行提取现金。就在这起挤兑事件发生几周前，中国债券市场出现了首次真实违约，而最新的挤兑事件再次显示中国金融系统正面对日益严峻的压力。

But it has also been a localised event, contained to one farming county where a series of lightly regulated credit co-operatives and loan guarantee companies failed earlier this year after mismanaging funds.

不过，这次挤兑仍只是一起局部事件，影响范围只限于射阳一县。就在今年早些时候，该县一些监管不够严格的信贷合作社及贷款担保公司曾因资金管理不善倒闭。

Worried depositors rushed to Jiangsu Sheyang Rural Commercial Bank after rumours spread that it was on the verge of collapse, according to state media. The panic first hit the bank’s branch in an industrial park on Monday. On Tuesday, big queues of depositors gathered at its branches in at least three other villages in Sheyang county, according to the Xinhua news agency.

根据中国官方媒体的报道，本周早些时候，有谣言称江苏射阳农村商业银行濒临倒闭，激起了储户的恐慌。据新华社(Xinhua)报道，储户最开始在周一冲击了该行在一个工业园区内的一家分行。到了周二，这家银行在射阳县其他至少三个村庄的分行外，都出现了储户们排起的长队。

The bank took a series of steps to try to reassure people. Photographs showed that the bank had prepared large bricklike stacks of renminbi to meet the demand for withdrawals. On the dot matrix sign outside one stricken branch, the bank promised to operate uninterrupted for 24 hours to serve people withdrawing money.

江苏射阳农村商业银行采取了一系列措施安抚储户。有照片显示，该行准备了大量成捆的人民币以应对储户提款要求。在一家受到冲击的分行，门外电子屏上显示的信息称，该行保证24小时不间断营业以满足提款要求。

At its doors, the bank broadcast a recorded message on repeat: “Savers’ deposits are protected by law. There is no situation in which we cannot meet cash withdrawal demands. Depositors must not listen to rumours and cause unnecessary panic.”

这家分行门口还反复播放着录好的通知：“储户的存款受法律保护。不存在银行无法满足提款需求的情况。各位储户不要听信谣言，造成不必要的恐慌。”

But these measures failed to allay concerns. Throughout the day on Tuesday, crowds gathered in the rain outside the bank to withdraw cash.

然而这些举措并未减轻人们的担忧。周二整整一天，这家分行门外都聚集着冒雨提取现金的人群。

With the panic reaching other branches of the bank, the government intervened on Wednesday. In a video posted on the local government’s website, the governor of Sheyang county promised depositors that their money was safe. Tian Weiyou, the governor, said that People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, would protect depositors.

就在周三，当恐慌情绪蔓延到其他分行时，政府出手干预了。在当地政府网站发布的一个视频中，射阳县县长田为友向储户保证，他们的资金是安全的。这位县长称，中国人民银行（即中国央行）及农商行系统将确保储户的利益任何时候不受影响。

Earlier this year, at least Rmb80m was wiped out in Sheyang county when a series of credit co-operatives and loan guarantee companies closed suddenly. Local media said the bosses of these institutions, which operate without the same strict regulatory oversight as banks, had fled after racking up investment losses.

今年早些时候，射阳县几家信贷合作社和贷款担保公司突然倒闭，导致至少8000万人民币资金蒸发。这类机构在运营过程中并未受到和银行一样严格的监管。据当地媒体报道，这几家机构的负责人在投资出现大量亏损后出逃。

Zang Zhengzhi, chairman of Jiangsu Sheyang Rural Commercial Bank, blamed the bank run on worries sparked by these earlier collapses. “Because ordinary people here have been scammed by the credit guarantee companies, when they hear that the banks might also have problems, they come right away to pull their cash out,” he told state radio.

江苏射阳农村商业银行董事长臧正志将这次挤兑归咎于谣言引发的储户恐慌。他在官方广播电台表示：“由于普通群众曾受到信用担保公司的欺诈，当听说银行也可能出现问题时，他们马上就想把自己的钱取出来。”

Local police said they would investigate the source of the rumour.

当地警方表示他们将调查谣言的出处。

The Sheyang bank run also highlights China’s lack of a bank deposit insurance scheme. Regulators are expected to reveal a deposit insurance plan in the coming months. But in the meantime, bank deposits are covered only by implicit government guarantees.

射阳挤兑事件也凸显出中国金融业的一个缺失，即中国仍没有银行存款保险机制。中国监管机构预计将在未来几个月披露一项存款保险计划。不过在这之前，银行存款只得到来自政府的隐性担保。

With the stacks of renminbi behind the teller windows at Jiangsu Sheyang Rural Commercial Bank delivered in plastic bags emblazoned with the central bank’s insignia on it, that implicit guarantee appears to be holding strong so far.

透过射阳农村商业银行的服务窗口，可以看到成堆的人民币用带有中国央行标记的塑料袋装着。到目前为止，这种隐式的担保似乎仍然十分可靠。

From a systemic perspective, Jiangsu Sheyang Rural Commercial Bank is tiny. It managed Rmb12bn of deposits at the end of February, accounting for about 0.01 per cent of the total assets in the Chinese banking system.

从系统风险的角度看，江苏射阳农村商业银行规模很小。今年2月底该行管理的存款金额为120亿元人民币，只占中国银行系统总资产约0.01%。