While many nations are straining every sinew to give industry a leg-up, China is doing the opposite. Having satisfied itself that economic recovery has been seeded, if not yet flourishing, the State Council is turning its attention to slack in the system. This week it asked authorities to “resolutely” curb “over-capacity and redundant construction.”

As ever, planners have a range of tools at their disposal. At the blunt end are forced mergers: messy, but often effective. At the other are restrictions on licences, lending and the supply of land. Softer measures like these are likely to dominate in newly bloated areas such as wind power and silicon.

But it is in the heavy sectors of steel and cement, dominated by state-owned enterprises, that Beijing faces a bigger challenge. China, comfortably the world's biggest producer of both, is also the biggest consumer; stripping out too much capacity – as it did in power generation after the Asian crisis a decade ago – risks a scramble once demand recovers.