China’s economy leapfrogs Germany

The Chinese government has increased its estimate of how much the economy grew during 2007.

The revision means China's economy overtook Germany's to become the world's third largest in 2007.

Gross domestic product expanded 13%, up from an earlier estimate of 11.9%, to 25.7 trillion yuan ($3.5 trillion).

The figures underscore China's emergence as an economic superpower, although the country's growth rate is expected to have dropped to 9% in 2008. …

…China's economy has grown tenfold in the past 30 years.

Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu predicted that it will overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy in "only three or four years". …