China’s announcement on January 17th that its economy had grown by an estimated 5% in 2024, right on target, was greeted with widespread disbelief on the country’s social media. “It feels unreal—everything around me seems so bleak,” wrote one netizen. “The folks at the statistics bureau worked hard,” said another. On Weibo, a microblogging platform, more than 240 comments were posted below state television’s summary of the GDP news. Only a handful remained visible, suggesting that most had failed to meet the account’s strict censorship standards. Amid high youth unemployment and a property-market slump, cynics abound.
The Economist
