It's not the time for stealing pigs

These days, all eyes are on the People's Bank of China, the Federal Reserve, and other international policymakers, as the market becomes increasingly edgy over whether they will act to head off inflation brought on by stimulus measures.

In fact, we don't always have to wait for these heavy hitters to tell us what they think is happening. There are many grassroots indicators we can look at. Take, for example, the price of pork.

Why pork? Because we Chinese eat a lot of it, and the price can tell us where the economy is headed.