Welcome to the land of rumor, hearsay, speculation, lies damn lies (well, hopefully not that). Was chatting to a friend the other day, who told me that she, in turn, had a friend doing some PR-related work for the Chinese government.
Apparently the real gravity of economic situation won’t even be clear until we pass through the year marking the anniversary of China’s economic reform. The anniversary is important for symbolic reasons, and government has put all hands on deck from a PR standpoint so as to put a brave face on the current economic situation. But eventually the chickens will come home to roost, and some are whispering that 2009 and 2010 will be even worse than 2008.