With China's official headline GDP number printing at decade lows, the positive spin on the increasingly negative data out of China has been that this is all a part of China's transition from an export-oriented to a consumption economy. However, there is a problem with this narrative: malls and shopping centers in China have been, and remain, increasingly empty suggesting that the narrative of the resurgent Chinese consumer - especially in the aftermath of the biggest stock market bubble burst since 2008 - is greatly exaggerated. Case in point: Reuters asks this morning "why are malls closing if consumption...