Zhongnanhai's natural beauty was little comfort to Luo Heping, a mid-level cadre whose thoughts for the past month had involved only the disaster playing out before him in slow motion. For despite the ambitious projections in the latest Five Year Plan, all evidence suggested provincial statistics were over-inflated and actual production was stagnant. Which made it likely that soon... very soon... China would hit a breaking point that might threaten the very existence of the state.

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