Rising inflation in China is fuelling American concerns that reining in growth here could have negative consequences in the U.S.
Some fear that a cooling of China's overheating economy could hurt U.S. markets by cutting Chinese investment in U.S. stocks and Treasuries. And higher inflation, coupled with the 12% annual economic growth rate in the first quarter, is setting off alarm bells around the world.
Now we've already mentioned here on China Take an economics expert who recently suggested the Chinese people should be prepared to endure higher inflation for the sake of maintaining economic growth. According to Wang Jian from the National Development and Reform Commission economic growth should come first and the control of inflation be left aside for the time being. Which is all very fine for economists - but what about the ordinary man or woman in the street? How do they feel about inflation? And should the government concentrate on growing the economy first? Our researcher Aaron Peng went out on the streets of Beijing to find out.