The goal has been smooth growth. Thus state figures have sometimes underestimated true expansion. Likewise, in the previous slowdown, when electricity generation stalled, economic activity mysteriously rumbled on unaffected. Thus when
we learn that China will, over two years, pump Rmb4,000bn ($586bn, €466bn) into an economy growing at “only” 9 per cent a year – a veritable comedown from the 10-12 per cent an octane-fuelled populace has come to expect – we should sniff the contents suspiciously.

Equity and commodity markets initially cavorted in response to signs that China, the world's only super-economy still going strong, was acting decisively to ensure things stayed that way. But, as the subsequent market sag hinted, the stimulus package may not be all that it seems. Real growth rates may already be lower than official figures purport. Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, says Beijing is acting as though it is “panicked”, suggesting that economic activity may have dipped below the 8 per cent Chinese observers, in their questionable wisdom, have determined as the level required to keep social unrest in check.

Certainly, anecdotal evidence suggests that output sank alarmingly last month, far more quickly than anyone imagined was possible just weeks ago. Here, a big chemicals company reports that orders fell by half in October. There, a banker that thousands of labour-intensive factories in Guangdong, the engine-room of China's export-led miracle, have disappeared almost overnight.