A lot of things in China carry a whiff of excess. The cost of garlic is among them: wholesale prices have almost quadrupled since March. A halving of the planting area last year, and belief in the bulb's powers to ward off swine flu, provide some justification for the surge. But anecdotes of unbridled trading activity in Jinxiang county, home to China's largest garlic plant, suggest that the most likely cause is the most obvious – the abundant liquidity swilling through the system. New loans in China may top Rmb10,000bn this year, double the run-rate of the preceding years; 2010 should bring another Rmb7-8,000bn.
中國很多東西都有一絲過度的味道。大蒜價格是其中之一：自3月份以來，批發價格已幾乎上漲了三倍。去年種植面積減半，加之目前人們相信大蒜有助于抵御豬流感，為這種飆升提供了一些合理解釋。但是，從“中國蒜都”——山東省金鄉縣——傳來的消息看，交易活動之所以達到瘋狂程度，最有可能的原因也最為明顯，那就是金融體系中充沛的流動性。中國今年新增貸款總額可能達到10萬億元人民幣，比往年水平高出一倍；2010年新增貸款估計也將達到7萬億至8萬億元人民幣。