Next China: Ready for 2024?

Hello, this is Allen Wan in Shanghai, where I’m looking forward to the end of a year that was packed with news — most of it negative.

Coming out of Covid Zero, the thought was China's economy would rebound strongly, and it did for a few months before petering out. Exports weakened and deflation deepened, but the big letdown was consumer spending, which slumped as young people struggled to find jobs and the long awaited reckoning for the housing market finally arrived.