Meet the New Chinese Economy, Same If a recovery led by investment in real estate as the Old Chinese Economy and industrial production, with consumption lagging behind, sounds familiar, it may be China's recovery from the pandemic relies on the same drivers of because the same could be said of the makeup of growth that powered the country before the pandemic, with the same China's growth before Covid-19. Unlike the U.S., underlying risks where there are many questions around how Two-year percentage change the huge stimulus might change the shape of the economy, China has followed a well- 30% Investment in industrial production has led established script in its pandemic response. 25 China's economic recovery, along with real estate. Even the lagging retail-growth figures may 20 PHOTO: STR/AGENCE FRANCE- exaggerate the underlying strength of the Real-estate PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES 15 investment consumer economy relative to previous years. Before the pandemic China typically ran a large 10 Retail sales travel deficit in its balance of payments, meaning that Chinese travelers spend more us outside of the country than visitors to China spend domestically. With the pandemic limiting foreign travel, some portion of that consumption now likely happens at home. That could be true for some time, but presumably won't be forever. -5 -10