After three decades of 9.8 per cent average annual GDP growth, China's economic expansion has been slowing for 13 consecutive quarters - the first such extended period of deceleration since the ''reform and opening up'' policy was launched in 1979.

Real GDP grew at an annual rate of only 7.5 per cent in the second quarter of this year (equal to the target actually set by the Chinese government at the beginning of this year).

China could undertake upgrading of industries and infrastructure to boost economic growth.

Many indicators point to further economic deceleration, and there is a growing bearishness among investors about the outlook for China. Will China crash?

In fact, many other rapidly growing emerging economies have suffered - and worse than China - from the drop in global demand resulting from ongoing retrenchment in high-income economies since the 2008 financial crisis. For example, GDP growth in Brazil has slowed sharply, from 7.5 per cent in 2010 to 2.7 per cent in 2011 and to just 0.9 per cent in 2012, while India's growth rate slowed from 10.5 per cent to 3.2 per cent over the same period.