Finding the right direction

Oliver Barron, head of research for NSBO, in Beijing. [Provided to China Daily]

Oliver Barron, head of research for the London-based investment bank NSBO, in Beijing, also believes the situation in Japan carries omens for China.

"China still needs to take lessons from the bursting of the Japanese housing bubble in the 1990s and the subsequent banking crisis. China clearly must reduce the importance of property on growth, but weaning itself off property-driven growth has not been easy," he says. "Each time the sector has slowed in recent years, the government has been forced to stimulate it because of the lack of other growth drivers."