Will the Chinese of tomorrow live like the Spaniards of today?

China’s Communist Party is known for its powers of political choreography and economic control. When its leaders gather at moments of pomp and portent, neither the public nor the economy is allowed to spoil the scene. Thus when the party met in 2017 for its twice-a-decade congress, the most important event in the country’s political calendar, the economic stage was expertly set. The currency was stable. Borrowing was tamed. And, as if on cue, China’s statisticians reported that the economy was growing a bit faster than the official target rate.

Five years later, as the country’s leaders began another week-long congress on October 16th, the economic backdrop was much less bright. Consumer spending has been depressed by China’s “zero-covid policy” and its ever-present threat of lockdowns. The property market has faltered. And youth unemployment has risen to around 20%. In marked contrast with five years ago, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has “botched the political business cycle”, as Barry Naughton of the University of California, San Diego, put it in a recent article.