The worriers are back warning us that China has borrowed too much. If China was assessed by the same standards as the advanced world, they would be taking a different view. In China state debt is only around 40pc of GDP, compared to six times that amount in neighbouring Japan.

The hostile commentators look at a much wider figure for China, the total borrowings of the state and the private sectors combined. On this measure China has borrowings around 250pc of GDP. This is not excessive by world standards.

In China, household debt at 40pc of GDP is low in comparison to most Western countries. It is also offset by substantial household savings, and a tradition of low mortgage commitments relative to property prices.

It is the corporate debt, at 165pc of GDP, which is high. Within this the largest amounts of corporate debt are held by state-owned corporations. Often a state-owned or controlled bank lends money to a state-owned enterprise. The World Bank and IMF produce figures for total domestic credit to the private sector. Their 2015 figures show China at 155pc compared to Japan at 194pc and the USA at 190pc. It reminds us that the most worrying figure for Chinese debt is the amount borrowed by state corporations and local government.