HONG KONG -- The southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou is hundreds of kilometers from the financial centers of Asia's biggest economy and thousands from the global cities where leading fund managers allocate assets. But events in that less-developed corner of the country provide a clue to the disappointing performance of Chinese stocks this year.
Guizhou's economic woes have grown so dire recently that it has sought help from one of the state-owned distressed asset management companies that typically absorb troubled credits in China. Fifty experts from China Cinda Asset Management have been dispatched to the province for purposes including "serving the real economy" and relieving "difficulties faced by the real estate sector," Zhao Limin, its vice president, told an April 20 forum co-hosted with local regulators, according to reports posted on the asset manager's social media account and the province's website.
