Lies no more, China’s economy in crisis

The Shanghai stock exchange is in a free fall. Some 67,000 companies have gone belly up. Foreign companies are rushing to leave. Real estate and the banking sector are going under. An economic analyst shows the emptiness behind the images of power. In Mao’s time people died of hunger; today they die of bankruptcy.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – In China nothing is real or simple. Many thins appear great on the outside but are empty and false on the inside. This was the case with the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. The event was attended by more than 80 foreign leaders who in doing so saved the government’s face (after the Tibet crackdown). Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had threatened a boycott of the Games, relented in the end and came.

Just a few days after the glory, the hidden truth was revealed. The spectacular giant footprint fireworks were computer-generated, the little girl sang in lip-synch, and even the 56 children dressed in different ethnic clothes were all ethnic Han Chinese.

The same is true for China’s economy. Ever since its “reform and opening up” policy was adopted 1978 in the wake of Deng Xiaoping’s proclaimed support for market economy theories, the mainland economy has developed at a record-breaking pace before the eyes of a world increasingly alarmed by China’s rise.

Some reputable scholars have suggested that this growth is likely to continue until 2020. So many people have accepted their views at face value. Let us take a look instead at the real face of China’s economy. …