The building boom of China was done by cooking the books with state owned enterprises. The cities are all new, and the consumption of concrete, steel, glass, etc made the government officials look great at every level up the chain.
Before, the export economy supported this addiction. No longer.
Covid closures showed the supply chains that they could not trust the CCP to be business first, and now everyone is finding new sources. Chinese labor costs are triple that of Mexico, for instance. BTW - Covid is running rampant in China again right now, with 65 million infections per week, but people are still working this time.
I’m going to Shanghai next month - it will be very interesting.
Give us an accurate of what you see on the ground. I will be looking for it. The CCP can’t hide the small stuff, which may give clues to the big stuff.