GUANGZHOU/SHANGHAI -- The future site of Sunshine Peninsula, a massive 5,000-unit condominium development in the suburbs of Guangzhou, was silent in late September.

About half the buildings had been completed up to only about their middle floors, leaving steel bars exposed to the elements. The other half remained vacant, windows gaping open without glass.

"Work's been stopped for the past half a month," a worker involved in handling materials for the project said gruffly. "I haven't heard anything about when it'll start up again."

The disruption of Sunshine Peninsula and other China Evergrande Group projects is concrete evidence of the shock waves that the near-collapse of the world's most indebted developer has sent through a society with a complex relationship with real estate. The situation has provoked deep anxiety and alarm among buyers of the properties, many of whom are protesting or seeking refunds.

While the construction site was quiet, there was an uproar at a model unit near the development as condo buyers barged in to voice their grievances.

One woman in her 40s, who signed a purchase contract in August 2020, paid about half the 2 million yuan ($310,000) price to a bank account designated by Evergrande. But that turned out not to be among the special escrow accounts set up at the direction of regulators to oversee the developer's spending.

Authorities temporarily ordered the suspension of condo sales in two Evergrande projects in Hunan Province this past July after the company was found not to have deposited all of the proceeds into a supervised account, according to local media. There are suspicions that the foundering developer is diverting money from projects to pay creditors.

"I just want to confirm what's going on," the woman said.

"There's nothing but bad news, but Evergrande won't tell us anything," fumed a man in his 20s, who put down a deposit of hundreds of thousands of yuan in April. "I want them to cancel the contract and give back my deposit, even if there's a loss."

A nearby sales representative kept insisting that Evergrande "won't go under."

Local authorities revoked an Evergrande affiliate's land usage rights for a huge project in the city of Anqing. (Photo by Noriyuki Doi)

While Evergrande is not the only big-name Chinese company to face crisis recently -- travel conglomerate HNA and chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup have both entered bankruptcy restructuring -- none caused the sort of shock that Evergrande has. That upheaval ties into the Chinese public's relationship with real estate.

There remains a widespread expectation that property prices will only go up. Land values have risen before people's eyes as China's economy has expanded, and many feel secure in the belief that the government would not do anything to cause the bubble to burst.

Combined with the fact that homeownership is all but a requirement for marriage, these factors mean that more than a few people have put all their eggs into the real estate basket.

But the Evergrande situation has shaken belief in the myths of China's property market.

The government of the city of Anqing in Anhui Province on Sept. 22 rescinded a contract for land use rights granted to an Evergrande affiliate after the company failed to pay the agreed fees, halting all development and sales for the project underway there.

The 110,000 sq. meter-plus lot was to house 19 high-rise condominiums as well as office buildings and commercial facilities. The city government plans to redo the bidding process for the site.

"The company told us to commute in, but there's nothing to do," an employee at the sales center grumbled.

In China, connections to the government can make or break an enterprise. There appears to be some distance between President Xi Jinping and Evergrande's founder and chairman Xu Jiayin. The decision by the local government apparently sent a strong signal that the state will not rescue the group, leading to public anxiety.

Despite all the chaos, work continues on the future home of Evergrande-owned soccer team Guangzhou FC. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)

Evergrande has not suspended all construction projects. The company plans to open a soccer stadium on the outskirts of Guangzhou at the end of 2022. Construction is ongoing at the 12 billion-yuan development, which will be the new home of Evergrande's soccer club, Guangzhou FC.

"It'll be the new symbol for our town," said a security guard at the site. "The construction is not going to stop."

There is talk that the stadium may be sold for much-needed funds, which would explain why Evergrande is prioritizing finishing this project. It remains to be seen if Evergrande will survive as the top boss after the stadium is complete.