Leave it to other countries to soar and swoon in their quarterly economic performance. China prefers a steady pace, at least in its officially reported data.

On Monday, the country announced that its economy had expanded 6.9 per cent in the second quarter, unchanged from the year-on-year growth rate in the first quarter.

Powering the Chinese economy were many of the familiar sectors: brisk construction of apartment buildings; strong retail sales, especially online; and rising government deficit spending on infrastructure, including new highways and high-speed rail lines. Much of the new infrastructure is in the sparsely inhabited western deserts, where its short-term economic usefulness may be limited.