We have long questioned the legitimacy of China’s official GDP statistics, with our own measure of economic activity suggesting that growth is much lower at 2.4%. While other commentators have pointed to a strategic rebalancing as the reason behind China’s economic slowing, we find little evidence to suggest that consumption is picking up the slack. We also find the reported strength of the tertiary sector in 2015 questionable, specifically the robustness of financial intermediation in the face of Q3’s stock…