China settles 1,923 bankruptcy cases in seven months

BEIJING — Chinese courts settled 1,923 bankruptcy cases from January to July this year, up nearly 30 percent year-on-year, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Thursday.

Up to 3,602 bankruptcy cases were settled across the country in 2016, the SPC said.

The number of cases accepted in 2016 increased by 53.8 percent from the previous year, courtesy of case-filing system reform in bankruptcy cases the SPC has carried out in recent years, said He Xiaorong, a presiding judge at the SPC.

The number of courtrooms for account-clearing and bankruptcy cases rose from five in early 2015 to 90 in the first half of 2017, according to the SPC.

The SPC will continue to actively handle bankruptcy cases, in order to improve the judicial environment for bankruptcy and to better handle "zombie companies" - unprofitable firms burdened with debt, He said.