The pains of structural transformation

For more than a year, headlines worldwide have been pointing to a Chinese economic slowdown. But a closer look at regional dynamics within China tells a different story - one that is less about deceleration than changing gears.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the resource-rich province of Shanxi in North China has suffered an economic slowdown, but Southwest China's Chongqing municipality and Guizhou province have experienced vibrant growth. North China's Hebei province and three other northeastern provinces are feeling the effects of recession, but the heavy-industry economies of Tianjin municipality, and North China's Shandong province and East China's Jiangsu province are booming.

After the 2008 financial crisis, when slower growth became the "new normal" for many countries, China began accelerating its economic rebalancing by shifting the drivers of growth from manufacturing and exports toward goods and services for domestic consumption.