New regulations try to plug the gaps in China's bankruptcy law

A few years ago, I was cycling in Yunan province, down by the Vietnamese border. As night set in, I was gliding down a mountain road when I came across a huge, derelict compound. Rust-eaten corrugated roofs covered portions of the crumbling buildings. Everything looked deserted until I saw a couple of security guards tending a stove in their little office. They told me the compound had been a factory, under the supervision of the local county government, but that mismanagement and huge losses had forced the locality to close its doors. But the company hadn't gone bankrupt, said the guards. No, it was still hoped that at some stage it would reopen and contribute...