The assumption is that boosting the economy boosts demand for the consumer goods no longer being bought by the West. But is that reasonable for hundreds of millions of people like Mr Zhao? China may have got richer in the past three decades, but many of its people have not. He lives in the poorest county, Funan, of one of China's poorest provinces, Anhui, and while his income of about 3,000 yuan a year (£300) is not unusually low, it does not leave a lot spare for washing machines – even if he had running water to attach one to.