When the Italian economy first overtook Britain's, the landmark 1987 moment was dubbed “Il Sorpasso”. Newspapers reported celebrations in the streets of Rome. A far more momentous rite of passage has just occurred with little fuss: China has finally arrived at the top of the rankings of global exporters, displacing Germany. China exported $957bn of goods in the first 10 months of 2009, compared with $917bn for Germany, according to customs data compiled by Global Trade Information Services, a Geneva-based firm. Data for the last two months of the year are unlikely to cause China to cede that hard-won crown.
當(dāng)意大利經(jīng)濟(jì)在1987年首度超越英國時(shí)，這一具有里程碑意義的時(shí)刻被稱為“大超越”(Il Sorpasso)。當(dāng)時(shí)的報(bào)道稱，人們走上羅馬街頭舉行慶祝活動(dòng)。相比之下，最近發(fā)生的一件事意義重大得多，卻沒人大肆聲張：中國終于超越德國，坐上了全球頭號(hào)出口大國的寶座。根據(jù)日內(nèi)瓦“世界貿(mào)易信息服務(wù)”(GTI)搜集的海關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)，2009年前10個(gè)月，中國出口了9570億美元的商品，高于德國的9170億美元。2009年最后兩個(gè)月的數(shù)據(jù)，不太可能使中國失去來之不易的最大出口國頭銜。