Another slew of Chinese data, another load of raised eyebrows. Evidence of accelerating retail sales or fixed-asset investment might be taken at face value elsewhere, but these are two of China's least reliable indicators. Seasoned China-watchers accept that not everything adds up in the data-gathering business. The total of first-half gross domestic product figures released individually by China's 31 provinces and municipalities, for example, was almost 10 per cent higher than the national figure put out by the National Bureau of Statistics. But some inputs to those sums are flakier than others.
又一批中國經濟數據，又一片驚嘆之聲。在其它地方，人們也許能夠放心地相信零售或固定資產投資加快增長的證據，但在中國，這兩項數據是最不可靠的指標。經驗豐富的觀察人士相信，在中國的統計中，并非每個單項加起來就能得出正確的總數，比如，中國31個省市自治區各自發布的上半年GDP數據，加起來要比國家統計局發布的全國數據高出近10%。但在那些總數中，有一些單項數據相對更經不起推敲。