Twelve months ago, Beijing stunned the international business community by shutting down Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corp (Gitic) for inability to repay debts, which amounted to 38.77 billion yuan (about HK$36.18 billion).
After three months' wait, international lenders were dealt another blow with news that Gitic had filed for bankruptcy without Beijing's pledge of full repayment, given in previous similar cases.
With their fingers burnt, foreign lenders flocked to recall loans from mainland companies as indiscriminately as they had rushed to lend during good times.
It triggered a debt crisis among mainland firms and other Itics which is far from over.
The Gitic saga has served as a painful reality check of how things can go wrong with even a long-established government-backed company in the transition from a planned to a market economy.
It has revealed long-standing weaknesses and malpractices in the existing system. It has also underpinned the urgent need to shift from name lending to commercial lending, to stick to rules that protect rights and interests and to have sound corporate governance.