What will the Year of the Snake bring for China?

This week marked the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Snake, and with the superpower's once-a-decade leadership transition due to complete next month, it seems like an opportune moment to consider the economic landscape facing the world's most populous nation. It is now widely appreciated that an extraordinary economic history has been created in China since the early 1980s. According to the World Bank, real GDP growth of over 10% per annum has lifted more than 500 million people out of poverty as the country has transformed into the world's largest production base and its second-...