The door opened and a young woman came in, looked around at the rest of us and walked out again. The young man in the orange beanie pulled a face and said everyone was in a rush to get things done ahead of Chinese New Year on January 22nd.
In fact, the evidence of economic recovery is everywhere in Beijing, starting with the traffic jams which are getting worse every day, starting long before and finishing well past the morning and evening rush hours. Lollipop ladies have returned to help pedestrians at busy intersections, one at each corner carrying a short-handled stop sign in one hand and a red flag in the other.
A number of local governments this week announced economic growth targets for 2023, most of them above 5 per cent and the national government is likely to aim for a similar increase. But the Chinese economy has changed since the start of the pandemic, with the property market and infrastructure spending running into trouble.