Yet through September and October of this year, that sense of comfort quickly disappeared. The Chinese economy is slowing rapidly - so fast that some observers fear it could be more than just a temporary dip.

Only a huge programme of public spending, say economists, can prevent the economy from dropping below the psychologically important level of 8 per cent growth. The golden era of the past five years, when growth exceeded 10 per cent each year, has ended.

For all the talk of international crises, the slowdown actually started at home when an overheated property market began to stumble (see Page 4). Weak construction activity has reduced demand for lots of products, helping to prompt severe production cutbacks across China's industrial base. Chinalco, the country's largest aluminium-maker, has cut 38 per cent of its alumina capacity on top of an 18 per cent reduction in aluminium production.