you have an umbrella to hide under whatever recourse loans you have.
China has none.
I've heard one saying: "Bankruptcy, Chinese style", which means taking all your cash and disappear. That's been happening a lot in China, hasn't it? I'd argue that the system forced those people to do it, which created more loss to society in general and to those people themselves than simply declaring personal bankruptcy.
The argument behind the non-recourse mortgage loans in the U.S. is that banks are better at assessing risk than the ordinary buyer. Therefore it is ethical to shift more risk to the bank, rather than the buyer.