At dusk under a smoggy sky, in the heart of north-east China’s rust belt, workers in beige uniforms file out of Shenyang Machine Tool, a lossmaking state-owned enterprise that is a pillar of the regional economy. 

It looks like the end of any day in the company’s 35-year history, but workers know the factory’s best days are behind it. The manufacturing and construction boom that powered China’s economy, fuelling demand for heavy machinery, is winding down, and Shenyang Machine has posted losses every year since 2013, once government subsidies — of between Rmb29m and Rmb53m ($4.3m to $7.8m) — are excluded. 

“They’ve been talking about reform for 10 years, but personally I haven’t seen much change here,” says one worker who only gives his surname, Kong, who does aftersales service for Shenyang Machine and has worked there for 30 years. “People aren’t using geared lathes any more. We’re being forced out of the market.”