China's economy, to crash or just bashed?

China seems to have little to cheer about in recent weeks, from persistent toxic smog to an economic slowdown, according to recent reports by the Western media.

China has no excuse for the environmental crisis, but the hype about the country's current economic slowdown requires reconsideration.

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Among the gloomy reports by Western media is a film by Robert Peston, How China Fooled the World, carried by the British broadcaster BBC on its website.

Peston warns of a "serious risk of calamitous crash" of the Chinese economy, saying China could be in trouble and the third wave of the global financial crisis is looming large.

Such a conclusion is sensational, but not fresh.

Since China launched its reform and opening up drive, Western observers have foreseen the so-called "collapse" of China many times, but none have turned out to be genuine prophets.

The latest cry about China's economy is like a fortune-teller in the street who talks nonsense, with predictions more resembling fictional thrillers than real-life previews.

What makes such predictions false is that they oversimplify China's economy into one or a few numbers and then exaggerate them.

The number cited most by bearish analysts is 7.7 percent -- last year's growth, which tied with that of 2012 for the weakest since 1999.

So what?

Since China began posting GDP data in 1978, the country's annual economic growth has dropped below 6 percent three times, below 8 percent nine times, below 9 percent 12 times, and below 10 percent 19 times.

To the woe of those passive observers, China's economy never collapsed in previous slowdowns.

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