Amid chaos and policy error, Xi Jinping needs a new economic plan

Michael Smith North Asia correspondent Nov 10, 2023 - 11.16am Save Share Tokyo | In the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, there is evidence everywhere of a country in the grip of economic stagnation. A huge shopping mall in the city's centre sits idle. Faded posters promoting lifestyle brands are plastered across doors which have never opened even though the building was completed more than three years ago. Half-finished skyscrapers in abandoned industrial parks and residential zones are dotted around the city. Construction cranes, yellow with rust from lack of use, sit idle alongside the concrete structures. In the Chinese…