On July 16, China announced that in the second quarter of this year, its economy grew 3.2 percent, a remarkably strong showing at a time when much of the global economy is in tatters because of the ongoing effects of a global pandemic. The figure suggested that China, once again, could lead the global economy during an economic and financial crisis. But a closer reading of the data points to a much darker picture, for China and the rest of the world — including signs that structural problem