The power shift at the top of Chinese politics has finished in private, but is still working its way out in public. It seems that the military will be more influential in this next period than it has been in the current one. The pressure on the small number of people who run the country must be extraordinary.
The Chinese economy is in as bad a state as any others on the planet, with the same issues around debt-fuelled bubbles. The sheer volume of business being done means they have blown through traditional sources of lending and ended up with schemes that are not far off Ponzi. Critically, the lack of a secondary housing market could exacerbate the effects of any reduction in prices or sell off of inventory.
Meanwhile, citizens are becoming less and less tolerant of absurd building projects and the corruption that often accompanies them. Face is still important in China, but the manner in which it is preserved is coming under greater scrutiny.
It’s a heady mix and near impossible to predict. All I can say is that change will come, and sooner than we might think possible.