Rare blue skies and clear air over Beijing even before the start of a week-long holiday in the first week of October suggest that many Chinese factories are closing.

China’s economy is slowing and its banks are only beginning to grapple with increased distress across a host of sectors, such as shipbuilding and steel, a legacy of misallocated capital in the wake of the financial crisis.

In 2009 and 2010, the big problem facing China was excess credit growth. Today the situation is more complex. The likelihood of an increase in bad loans is making the banks especially cautious. China’s big state-owned banks are seeing scarce demand for money from clients among the largest state-owned enterprises. But they have no time for smaller businesses that do need capital.