Click to play videoBeijing: China's economic growth slowed to an annual rate of nine percent in the third quarter of this year, still better by Western standards but down from 11.5 per cent compared to a year ago.
The growth is fast by any other country's standards, but for China it was the weakest quarter's growth in five years.
As one of the world's biggest exporters, it's really feeling the impact of slower foreign demand which is affecting the workers who keep China's industrial machine running.
This year alone more than half the country's toy makers have closed, more than three thousand, mostly small factories, leaving tens of thousands of workers without a job.
Overall, soaring labour and raw material costs, and an appreciating currency which makes exports more expensive, have cut already thin profit margins.
The credit crunch in the US, China's biggest customer, is likely to force more businesses to close.
In addition to that, for the past year, a slow motion stock market crash has seen the value of shares fall around 70 per cent.
Investors fear to speak up anything against the government decisions.
Beijing plans to boost the economy by spending more on infrastructure, ease credit for small and medium businesses and encourage consumers to spend more.
However, if China's factories are making less stuff, their demand for raw materials from countries like Canada, Brazil and Australia is expected to fall and that will add to the problems of an already slowing global economy.
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