Over the past 20 years China has been the biggest and most reliable source of growth in the world economy.

It contributed a quarter of the rise in global gdp over that period and expanded in 79 of 80 quarters. For most of the period since China opened up after Mao’s death, the Communist Party has taken a practical approach to making the country richer, mixing market reforms with state control.

Now, however, China’s economy is in danger. The immediate issue is its zero-covid campaign, which has caused a slump and may condemn the economy to a stop-start pattern. That is compounding a bigger problem: President Xi Jinping’s ideological struggle to remake state capitalism.
If it stays on this path China will grow more slowly and be less predictable, with big consequences for it and the world.

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Credit: @theeconomist

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