With inflation stubbornly high and the government trying to work down its debts, China cannot afford another superhero stimulus like the Rmb4,000bn package that helped rescue the world from despair in 2008.

　　鑒于通脹居高不下，加上政府在竭力減少債務(wù)，中國沒法再像2008年那樣拿出4萬億元人民幣的刺激措施、扮演幫助拯救世界于絕境的超級英雄。

　　Instead Beijing is showing unexpected resolve in its campaign to cool the once-sizzling property market, (potentially) China’s economic kryptonite.

　　相反，中國在樓市調(diào)控上拿出了出人意料的決心——往昔熱火朝天的樓市，有可能成為中國經(jīng)濟(jì)的“氪氣石”。

　　The importance of the Chinese property sector cannot be overstated. Property construction directly accounts for nearly 15 per cent of China’s gross domestic product and drives its demand for commodities, especially iron ore and copper. Jonathan Anderson, an economist with UBS, has called Chinese property “the single most important sector in the entire global economy”.

　　說到中國樓市的重要性，無論怎么強(qiáng)調(diào)都不為過。房地產(chǎn)建設(shè)在中國國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)中所占的直接比重接近15%，此外還拉動著對鐵礦石和銅等大宗商品的需求。瑞銀(UBS)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家喬納森?安德森(Jonathan Anderson)形容中國房地產(chǎn)行業(yè)是“全球經(jīng)濟(jì)中獨一無二的重要行業(yè)”。

　　With the real estate market looking bubbly early last year, the government introduced a series of policies to rein in prices, from higher mortgage rates to restrictions on the numbers of homes people can buy.

　　去年初，由于房地產(chǎn)市場出現(xiàn)泡沫跡象，中國政府出臺了一系列政策抑制房價，包括提高按揭利率和限制個人購房數(shù)量。

　　There are signs that these measures are finally starting to bite – at just the time that the United States and Europe are on the brink of a double-dip recession. 一些跡象表明，這些措施終于開始奏效了——正當(dāng)美國和歐洲瀕臨二次探底之際。

　　Chinese property price increases have all but stalled in month-on-month terms and many analysts think the market is at a tipping point. With huge and rising unsold inventories, housing prices in major cities should register outright declines in the coming months, further denting construction activity and broader economic growth.

　　按月度環(huán)比計算，中國房價漲勢已經(jīng)幾近停滯。許多分析師認(rèn)為，目前市場正處于一個轉(zhuǎn)捩點。由于待售房存量巨大并呈上升趨勢，未來幾個月，各大城市房價可能一路走低，進(jìn)一步抑制建筑活動和整體經(jīng)濟(jì)增長。

　　Hence the big question for China and the world. Will Beijing take fright at the global troubles and relax its grip on the property market? Evidence this week suggests not.

　　中國和世界因此面臨一個大問題：中國會不會被全球經(jīng)濟(jì)的困境嚇到，從而放松樓市調(diào)控？從本周的形勢來看，答案是不會。

　　China Securities Journal, an official newspaper, reported on Tuesday that the government will expand restrictions on home purchases by the end of August, implementing them in about 30 new cities.

　　據(jù)官方報紙《中國證券報》周二報道，政府將在8月底前擴(kuò)大限購令實施范圍，增加大約30個城市。

　　Then, in a meeting of the Politburo, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, President Hu Jintao said that, despite China’s agricultural outsourcing, more must be done to protect arable land from being swallowed up by construction projects – a signal to slow down, not speed up, development.

　　其后，在中共最高決策機(jī)構(gòu)中共中央政治局舉行的會議上，國家主席胡錦濤表示，必須從嚴(yán)控制各類建設(shè)占用耕地，盡管中國開展了農(nóng)業(yè)外包。這是放慢、而非加快發(fā)展步伐的信號。

　　Beijing, it seems, has learned its lesson from 2008. Housing prices soared days after it eased its property clampdown at the time. Along with being disruptive to the economy, the stop-and-start policies undermined the government’s credibility in the real estate market.

　　看來，中國政府已經(jīng)從2008年的經(jīng)歷中吸取了教訓(xùn)。當(dāng)時，政府剛放松調(diào)控措施沒幾天，房價就開始大幅上漲。政策時斷時續(xù)不僅對經(jīng)濟(jì)有破壞作用，也削弱了政府在房地產(chǎn)市場上的公信力。

　　This time around, Beijing is regaining credibility by staying the course on property tightening. That will be a good thing for China’s property market in the long term. While bad news for the global economy, that China won’t unveil a new stimulus is already the dominant market view.

　　這次政府在樓市調(diào)控上毫不松動，重樹了威信。從長遠(yuǎn)來看，這對中國樓市發(fā)展是一件好事。雖然對全球經(jīng)濟(jì)來說是壞消息，但是中國不會出臺新刺激措施已成市場主流觀點。

　　But for countries and investors hoping for a short-term boost from Chinese demand, it is one more reason to be worried.

　　然而，對希望從中國需求中得到短期提振的國家和投資者來說，這又是一個讓人擔(dān)心的理由。