Notes

Stuck in a moment. Since the 1980s, China’s economy has grown more than any other in the world—but those days might be over. It barely advanced at all in the second quarter of this year. Chinese people are losing jobs and spending less—and they tend to have a much darker view of the economy now than they did just a few years ago. Foreign investors are leaving, and forecasts look less rosy. What’s gone wrong?

Today, Victor Shih lays out the critical problems that have emerged from all these years of rapid expansion—and the enormous national debt that’s complicating Beijing’s efforts to solve them.

—Michael Bluhm