For years China's top officials have touted their ambitious policy priority to wean the world's second-largest economy off high levels of debt, but there is not much to show for it.
On the contrary, a Reuters analysis shows the debt pile at Chinese firms has been climbing in that time, with levels at the end of September growing at the fastest pace in four years.
The build-up has continued even as policymakers roll out a series of measures to end the explosive growth of debt, including persuading state firms and local governments to prune borrowing and tighter rules and monitoring of banks'
