The aim is to oblige debtors who are deliberately avoiding their creditors to return the money owed as quickly as possible.

The court order rules that indebted people should not consume luxury goods and services in hotels, restaurants and entertainment places; should not use expensive car-hire and air-services; should not use mobile phones or other high-grade communications appliances; should not buy houses or rent offices; should not buy luxury goods or pay large sums of money to family members; and should not spend money on tourism.

In a word, they should restrict themselves to the lowest living standard, according to the government regulation.

Shanghai Jing'an District People's Court held a public hearing on September 2 and carried out the order against more than 20 indebted people who have been purposefully avoiding their creditors.

In a new wave of orders the court plans to restrict the spending patterns of at least 100 bad debtors.

Under the pressure of the court, some people paid off their debts at once. Others continued to refuse to co-operate with the court, even though they have concealed property.

But to pursue these people who combine large debts with upmarket consumption is not an easy thing, according to the experience of the court. Concealed money is hard to investigate within the currently existing credit system.

Some banks allow people to have multiple accounts, so that some debtors deliberately open large numbers of accounts to frustrate investigators. The banks themselves sometimes use legal means to blocks investigations.

The first headache is finding concealed property.

Zhou Wenhu (not the real name) used to owe a local company over 90,000 yuan (US$10,883) for years.

He insisted that he had no money and he believed that he could pass safely beneath the threshold by insisting on his dire economic condition.

Zhu's dream lasted until a police car stopped outside the stock brokerage outlet, where he had 200,000 yuan (US$24,200) of stocks in his account.

If he had continued to claim a lack of money, his stocks would have been partly confiscated.

Being smart, after a few days of weighing, Zhou decided to take 90,000 yuan in cash to the court.

"We find that stock market investment is an important clue in pursuing debts," said Wang Hao, vice president of the court. According to the order, debtors are banned from holding investments.

Most judges willing to be interviewed complained that debt-reclamation cases now make up about 40 per cent of those brought before the court, occupying a huge amount of time and energy.

Less than 30 per cent of these people are able to repay their debts in the judgment of the court. Most people decline to give any money by showing the court their certificates of joblessness or subsidy-application, even when they are not in reality poor.

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