By Noah Berman

— October 21, 2025

Factory workers manufacture solar panels at an Eoplly New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. plant in Nantong, Jiangsu, China. Credit: ChinaImages via Depositphotos

China’s economy may still be on course to meet the government’s growth target this year, but a look behind the headline figures illustrates just how ‘two-speed’ in nature that growth has become.

An excerpt from Xi Jinping’s speech on ‘New Quality Productive Forces’, November 12, 2024. Credit: Qiushi

The country recorded overall third quarter GDP growth of 4.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, meaning it should still expand by around 5 percent in 2025 — in line with

Subscribe or login to read the rest.

Subscribers get full access to:


Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won’t find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from Andrew Peaple.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.

We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.

Includes images from Depositphotos.com