When Chinese businessman Roger Zhang needed a bridging loan for his steel company, he went to a pawn shop to get a cash flow injection to keep his business afloat.

Turned away by banks caught in the credit crunch, Zhang, like many Chinese businessmen, borrows from pawn shops instead. In this case, he paid off the loan a few days later when a customer made payment on a big steel purchase.

"The financial crisis has an obvious impact on our businesses. There's a shortage of liquidity in the market," said Zhang, whose business is in Wenzhou, in eastern China.