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When I was growing up in Detroit decades ago, it was still a lovely and productive city, affectionately known as the Motor City, or, to the many African-Americans who escaped the racism and economic stagnation of the bigoted American South, a beacon of economic and political hope called Motown. Nobody thought then that a few decades later, it would be known as the murder capital of the United States and a part of the industrial rustbelt. For fun, we'd drive to Toledo, Ohio, because at that time there, you could legally drink watered-down 3.2 percent beer at 18 years old, when at home we had to wait until we were 21 for the real stuff. Like Detroit, Toledo too was one of the engines that drove the American economy and was very much part of the supply chain of the American automobile juggernaut. But Toledo too succumbed to economic pressures and itself became part of the rustbelt. Like some sections of Detroit, there are some parts of Toledo that are so crime-ridden that nobody goes there except out of sheer necessity. As in Detroit, people fled the city in large numbers out of fear and/or lack of opportunity. It's no secret that Americans are in debt to China to the astounding amount of $1.15 trillion in US Treasury bills alone, and it's no secret either that Chinese investors are buying up individual properties at rock-bottom prices in many parts of America. They range from dollar houses in Detroit to multimillion-dollar estates in Beverly Hills or the North Shore of Long Island. But it is news when Chinese businesspeople appear to be buying up significant parts of an entire city. And that city is Toledo. It remains to be seen, however, if China will be perceived as savior of the city or an unsavory exploiter. | 
