YULIN, China -- At about 8:30 on a chilly winter morning, a factory outside this desert city is already getting busy. Trucks drive in with coal and drive out with construction waste. And if you look closely, you can see workers wearing helmets, climbing up and down on giant pipes. In front of the office building, a row of colorful flags reads, "Fighting for success in 2015." The success the factory is aiming at is the operation of its coal-to-liquids business. Yankuang Group, China's coal giant, is betting its future on it.