Gordon Chang, who takes a gloomy view of China's economy,
writes for
Forbes that the official PRC 8.1% growth figure overstates the actual growth. See what he says:
Actually, a 5% pace is more realistic because other signs point toward flattening growth. Home and commercial property sales dropped 14.6% in Q1 from the same period last year, for example. Bellwether passenger car sales for the quarter were down 1.8% year-on-year, and sales of commercial vehicles were off a stunning 10.8%.
Now check out Chang's conclusion, which may or may not be alarmist:
China is not growing at 8.1%, and unless something big is done fast, in months it will not be growing at all.
