When it listed in Hong Kong in 2008, Renhe Commercial Holdings attracted investors’ attention because it had a business model unlike most Chinese property developers: turning disused underground bomb shelters into shopping malls.

But hit hard by the downturn in the Chinese property market, it is following the lead of other developers by jumping into a new business area in a bid to survive what it calls “the strong head wind in the cold winter”.

China’s property developers were among the main beneficiaries of the government’s stimulus largesse, unleashed in 2009 in response to the global financial crisis. The building boom that followed coincided with a property price surge that delivered real estate companies high growth rates, chunky profit margins and a flood of cash.