Xi Jinping’s absence at the recent G20 summit, and the catastrophe that hit China’s real-estate sector just this August, may be deeper signs of change in the global balance. Meanwhile, in the West economists are divided: those that follow the school of Keynes see Beijing’s difficulties as caused by a crisis in internal demand. They don’t dramatize the possible repercussions of this downturn, and they congratulate the Biden administration on its public support towards the economy, seeing in it the correct response to the Chinese model. On the other front, conservative theorists want to take advantage of the dragon’s difficulties and to reaffirm the supremacy of a liberal economic paradigm. There’s great confusion under the sky, and the feeling is that the west continues to use outdated analytical approaches in attempting to make sense of the Asian colossus, its unique characteristics, and the paradoxes of our modern era.