The Year of the Rat was looking promising for the Chinese economy at the Lunar New Year vacations Eve. When European and American economies were running out of steam, a first step in the conclusion of a trade agreement with the United States had been cleared and the risks of a tensions worsening were passing. 2019 growth had over passed 6% and that was a result that would have made the whole world envious. December figures were even showing an accelerating trend. The sanitary catastrophe which occurred in January, when according to the tradition hundreds of millions of Chinese are ...