China’s official gauge of factory activity tumbled into contractionary territory in January as factories suspended operations days ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in January from 50.1 in December, according to data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics. That ended a three-month streak of the gauge staying above the 50 mark separating expansion from contraction.

A creditor to an overseas arm of China’s largest construction company is asking a U.S. bankruptcy court to help investigate whether the firm may have committed fraud, Bloomberg News reported. China Construction America Inc. filed for chapter 11 in New Jersey last month. The company is a subsidiary of state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp. The largest unsecured creditor of the case, BML Properties Ltd., wants the court to appoint an examiner to look for potential fraud and misconduct, according to a motion filed on Thursday.

Authorities in Beijing are ramping up pressure on neighbors to rein in cyberscams after the high-profile kidnapping of a young Chinese actor who says he was trafficked into a criminal enclave in Myanmar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Parts of war-torn Myanmar and other countries in Southeast Asia have become havens for sprawling scam compounds, where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to swindle billions of dollars out of victims in the U.S., China and elsewhere.

President Trump said on Tuesday that he intended to impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports into the United States on Feb. 1, the New York Times reported. Speaking at the White House, Mr. Trump said that the tariffs were in response to China’s role in America’s fentanyl crisis. Trump said that China was sending fentanyl to Canada and Mexico, from where it would be transported into the United States. The tariff threat comes after Mr.

China is set to impose a 1 million yuan ($137,309) cap on the annual income of staff at central government-owned financial institutions, three sources said, expanding a campaign against excess against a backdrop of economic slowdown, Reuters reported. Those whose income already exceeds 1 million yuan will have their payout cut, such as middle and senior managers whose income will as much as halve in an overhaul of the compensation structure at 27 financial giants including the "Big Five" banks, six leading insurers and four major bad debt managers.

China Vanke Co. (萬科) rebounded from record lows in credit markets, as people familiar with the matter said the distressed developer had previously told some creditors it had enough cash prepared to repay a local note, the Taipei Times reported. The firm told some creditors prior to turbulence in its bonds and shares yesterday that it had prepared enough cash to repay a 3 billion yuan (US$409.3 million) bond due on Jan. 27.

Longi Green Energy Technology said the Chinese solar panel giant expects to have swung into the red last year with a net loss of as much as CNY8.8 billion (USD1.2 billion) mainly due to intensifying competition, Yicai Global reported. Net loss was likely between CNY8.2 billion and CNY8.8 billion last year, compared with a net profit of CNY10.8 billion (USD1.5 billion) in 2023, the Xi'an-based company said yesterday. Investment losses from a stake in a silicon material producer contributed to the temporary operational loss, it noted.

Defaulted Chinese builder Sino-Ocean Group Holding Ltd. is entering a London court Wednesday for a three-day hearing, looking to exercise a legal mechanism allowing a debtor to potentially complete restructuring without creditors’ full approval, Bloomberg News reported. Company representatives will press for a court sign-off on its restructuring proposal, centered on turning about $5.6 billion of debt into new debt and other types of securities paid to creditors. Many bondholders oppose the terms, and a group of them will tout their proposals that they consider to be more favorable payouts.

China Vanke Co.’s top executive was taken away by police and the Chinese property giant may be assumed by state authorities, the Economic Observer reported, Bloomberg News reported. A task force sent by the local government of Shenzhen, where the state-backed developer is based, has stepped in to run the company, according to the report. Vanke may be taken over or restructured, the report added. The Observer reported separately that Vanke Chief Executive Officer Zhu Jiusheng was taken by police. Zhu didn’t respond to calls seeking comment about the report.