谢国忠搜狐博客　http://xieguozhong.blog.sohu.com/
Echoes of the Storms

True colors show up during a crisis. It is true for a person or a country. The winter storms ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday were the first serious test for China\'s economy since the SARS crisis in 2003. China\'s economy has expanded rapidly since the SARS crisis and, measured in US dollar terms, doubled since. On the positive side, China again demonstrated its ability to respond to crisis by mobilizing national resources quickly. China\'s top-down command structure comes in handy when the whole country needs to focus on one issue. All levels of government agencies and officials were directed to address the emergencies from the storms. Despite hundreds of millions stranded around the country, the crisis passed without a major disturbance.

The crisis also reveals a weakness in China\'s economic management and a more serious weakness in China\'s development model. Despite the reputation for economic planning and c...