[crdoconnor]

>That is a very old number and anyways only comes from consumers who are not consuming but saving for emergency health care, or increasingly unaffordable housing.

They're still saving and those savings keep a lid on Chinese inflation which makes projects like this affordable.

>China desperately needs for its consumers to actually consume to move away from an export oriented economy, which is especially sensitive to trade friction.

There's a lot of talk in the CCP about shifting China's economy to becoming more consumer driven but there isn't a lot of appetite to actually do the things which would make that happen - namely some sort of social security/nationalized health insurance system.

The Chinese will thus continue to be terrified of getting old and sick and will and save accordingly, and those savings will no doubt continue to get recycled into projects like this as well as subsidizing state run SMEs with cheap loans.

[seanmcdirmid]

I agree with this. Savings keep a lid on inflation but also distort money supply and demand, just like the real estate bubble distorts supply and demand for housing. A lot of distortions with temporary fixes to keep things going.

2017 will be very interesting. Can't wait to see what happens in Tuesday.