Bankruptcy cases surged in China last year, indicating growing economic stress as well as progress in the ruling Communist party’s efforts to use the country’s courts to deal with indebted “zombie” companies and reduce industrial overcapacity. Chinese courts accepted 5,665 bankruptcy cases in 2016, an increase of 54% from the year before, the country’s top court said on Friday. About 3,600 of those cases were resolved, with 85% of the resolved cases resulting in liquidation. The court did not give full regional figures but companies from China’s eastern regions, which are known for manufacturing by small and medium-sized enterprises, appeared to contribute a large chunk of cases, with more than 1,600 coming from the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu alone, according to the Financial Times.