Beijing's landmark Qianmen Street is packed with tourists on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2023. Photo: Li Hao / Global Times

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s bold talk of building a “mega-sized consumer powerhouse” has a serious economic gravity problem. Although Li has only been on the job since March 2023, his boss, Xi Jinping, took the reins of power a decade earlier. Back in 2013, as Xi pledged to let market forces play a “decisive role” […]

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