International crisis starting to hit Chinese economy. - The National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC) has just announced that growth in the Chinese economy fell below 10% in the first quarter of 2008. NBSC spokesman, Li Xiaochao, acknowledged that the international crisis was now also affecting the Chinese economy. Throughout 2007, Chinese GDP jumped by 11.9%, the fifth consecutive year in two-figure growth. In the third quarter of 2008, growth just managed to reach 9.0%, its lowest level since the second quarter figures for 2003 and the only quarter where growth has not been in double figures since 2005. The first sign of this weakness was the slowdown in Chinese exports, followed by lower investment in the property market. In September, exports did, however, make progress and China achieved a record trade surplus of $29.3bn.