The announcement of China’s gross domestic product figures this week hinted at the unwinding of the greatest growth narrative in history. From 1980 to 2009, China expanded by an average of 10.1 per cent annually, transforming the world’s most populous country into its second-largest economy. Now though – Chinese officials said as they announced the slowest quarterly GDP growth rate since the global financial crisis – we should prepare ourselves for a “new normal” of slower expansion. This anodyne expression, however, camouflages an unsettling reality: there is nothing normal about the vast pit of debt from which China must struggle to emerge.
中國本週發佈的國內生產毛額(GDP)數據，暗示著歷史上最偉大的成長故事正在走向結局。從1980年到2009年，中國經濟以年均10.1%的速度成長，讓全球人口最衆多的國家成長爲全球第二大經濟體。現在，中國官員在宣佈自全球金融危機以來最低的GDP季度成長數據時表示，要對較低成長的「新常態」做好準備。然而，如此淡定平和的表述掩蓋了一個令人不安的現實：中國現在的債務大坑絕不應該成爲常態，它必須奮力從中跳出來。