The Financial Times reports that copper, considered a barometer for global economic growth because of its wide range of industrial uses, fell to a six-year low below $5,000 a tonne on Thursday. Oil, which dipped almost 20% since a rally in October, fell under $45 a barrel on Thursday, less than half the level it traded at for much of this decade. China again is the focus and Goldman Sachs said this week that recent data pointed to contracting demand in China’s “old economy” as the government struggles to manage a transition to more consumer-led growth. However, it’s not all doom and gloom and a three-decades long foreign resident has highlighted five myths about the Middle Kingdom.