Western prophets of Chinese financial collapse have cried wolf so regularly their throats must be sore. A $28bn cash injection by the central bank is the latest shadow amid the trees to scare them. Do not be surprised if the threat is just another trick of light. China’s big banks are well positioned.

Fresh liquidity from the People’s Bank of China will help support regional banks and small companies. It is turning on the taps just a couple of days before the release of quarterly gross domestic product data. These are expected to show a slowdown to below 6.1 per cent, the slowest growth in almost three decades.

That sounds worrying, just like those travellers’ tales of endless empty new-build apartments. The same would apply to corporate bond defaults, which are headed for a record year.