Economic change weighs heavily on manufacturers

Prolonged slump in fortunes forces overdue but painful transitions in many sectors, report Zhong Nan and Du Juan.

For Ji Fenghua, chairman of Jiangsu-based Nantong Mingde Group, 2014 brought a bitter fate. His heavily indebted shipyard was taken over by Sainty Marine Corp, a bigger shipbuilder in the same province.

Business was "not that bad" from 2010 to 2012, Ji said. The private shipyard, with about 4,000 workers, still had an order backlog for vehicle carriers, chemical tankers and bulk vessels that were placed by Singaporean and Norwegian clients attracted by the company's relatively low prices. But things began to change in 2013 and conditions worsened last year.