Shanxi Haixin Iron and Steel Group was once the biggest privately owned steelmaker in China's central province of Shanxi. Its plant in the city of Yuncheng is now deserted.
In its heyday, a never-ending stream of large trucks, loaded with coal for fuel, passed through the facility's gate. But Shanxi Haixin collapsed in November 2014, leaving 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion at current rates) in debt. Problems in China's shadow banking system -- a web of largely unregulated financial institutions -- had come to light the previous year. Haixin was apparently tangled in that web.
