Given the past few months, waning Chinese enthusiasm for free market forces is not hard to understand. Beijing is used to holding the whip hand over the economy, permitting liberalisation only on its own terms, not those of the untrammelled market. If the gyrations of the Shanghai Composite index are any guide to unrestricted capitalism, better the tamer version long favoured by China’s leadership.
考虑到过去几个月的情况，不难理解中国为什么对自由市场力量逐渐失去了热情。中国政府习惯于把持经济的控制大权，只在自己说了算的前提下允许经济自由化，而不是听任自由市场决定经济自由化进程。如果说上证综指的剧烈波动可以为不受限制的资本主义是什么样子提供参考，那么还是选择一种更驯服的资本主义（中国领导层长期以来更青睐这种资本主义）为好。
Equally clear is how dangerous it is to cling to such an illusion. As President Xi Jinping recognised when promising a “decisive role” for market forces, China cannot haul itself out of the middle-income bracket through bureaucratic genius alone. Resources must be free to flow where they are most in demand, even if this entails short-term distress to those sectors hitherto favoured by state interference.
同样显而易见的是，坚持这样的错觉有多么危险。正如中国国家主席习近平在承诺让市场力量发挥“决定性作用”时所承认的，中国不能仅仅依靠官员的聪明才智摆脱中等收入陷阱。资源必须能够自由流向最需要它们的地方——即使这么做短期内会为那些一直以来受政府干预措施扶持的部门带来痛苦。