Beijing is grappling with the end of a massive credit cycle. It managed to pump up its domestic growth rate in the global financial crisis by ordering its banks to extend a huge amount of credit to property companies. It was one of the biggest explosions of borrowing and investment spending ever seen in a single country in history. But the Chinese authorities are afraid that creating even more debt in this way could lead to a domestic financial collapse, or terrible domestic economic distortions. They are slowing the pace of credit growth and investment and trying to shift the economy into new sources of growth such as consumer spending. As they attempt this pivot, the country’s growth rate is, inevitably, slowing. The great danger is that without credit-fuelled investment the economy will slow too quickly and China will experience the “hard landing” than some economists have been dreading for many years now.