Is Shenmu the new Ordos? Wenzhou?

Plunge in Global Coal Prices Threatens To Trigger Financial Crisis In Northern China's Coal-Producing Counties - IB Times | After reaping the benefits of the commodities boom of the last decade, Shenmu, the largest county in China's coal-producing heartland, Shaanxi, could be headed for a financial crisis, stemming from a credit crunch, which has caused undue delays in construction projects and impediments in a local government-funded health insurance scheme, while bankers desert the region, Beijing-based Caixin Online reported. The city of Ordos, in Inner Mongolia's autonomous territory, which used to be one of the richest cities in China, has also been hurt by the nationwide slowdown, made worse by the slump in coal prices. Among 27 provinces in China that produce coal, the northern province of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia hold the majority of China's easily-recoverable coal reserves and contain almost all of the large state-owned coal mines. "Both Shenmu and Ordos used the development model of over-reliance on natural resources, which is not sustainable, so now they are suffering a painful transition," Tian Yun, chief of Macro China Information Network, a Beijing-based think tank told the Global times, in July, noting that other local governments would do well to understand that a well-balanced industrial structure is crucial for sustainable development.... ouster, on July 26, of Lei Zhengxi, the county's Communist Party secretary, following rumors that the government was planning to stop free medical services to offset growing fiscal deficit. ... And, in the first quarter of 2013, only seven coal mines in Shenmu were functional, after work was suspended at 42 mines, the Global Times reported.