I’m at the point of concluding that the Chinese government are morons. They seem to be unable to think for themselves and instead latch onto every Western fad, and then take that fad to an unsustainable level.
We measure a country’s economy by GDP. So, what does China do? They game the numbers and (over) build empty cities. A high stock market looks good, so they overheat it. They encourage people to move from the country to the cities but without giving them the internal passport permission. And the (former) one child policy’s lingering effects. I don’t think the 21st century will be China’s century.
These are not Western fads. They always have a hand in them, what with it primarily being their acolytes in the West promoting them.