The economic scars of China’s real estate crash are evident at the country’s many street markets for construction materials. Proprietors of once-bustling shops that sell everything from lighting fixtures and doors to toilet bowls are aching for customers.

在众多街头建材市场，中国房地产崩盘造成的经济伤痕清晰可见。那些经销从照明灯具、门窗到马桶的商铺曾经热闹非凡，如今店主们正苦苦寻找顾客。

At the same time, China’s exports have climbed sharply. Companies are shipping cars, smartphones and many other products to foreign markets that they can no longer sell at home. Private-sector companies are investing heavily in new factories and equipment to expand production for export.

与此同时，中国的出口大幅攀升。各家公司正将汽车、智能手机和许多其他产品运往国外市场，这些产品在国内已经供大于求。私营企业大量投资新工厂和设备，扩大出口生产。

On Friday, the National Bureau of Statistics said that China’s economy grew 5 percent last year, as surging exports and strong investment in factories and industrial equipment mostly offset a lingering slump in construction.

周五，中国国家统计局称，由于出口激增、工厂和工业设备投资强劲，大部分抵消了建筑业持续低迷的影响，去年中国经济增长了5%。

The government had set a target of “about 5 percent” nearly a year ago.

将近一年前，政府设定的目标是“约5%”。

While the official figures often draw skepticism, government economists insist that the economy has regained its footing. “China’s economy is really recovering amid the ups and downs,” said Yang Ping, a director of economic research at the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s main economic planning agency.

尽管官方数据经常招致怀疑，但政府经济学家坚持认为经济已重新站稳脚跟。中国主要经济规划机构国家发展和改革委员会的经济研究主管杨萍表示：“中国经济确实已经在跌宕起伏中复苏。”

The real engine of the economy now lies in an ever-widening trade surplus, which reached almost $1 trillion last year. In December, the surplus, $104.8 billion, was the largest any country had reported for a single month.

目前，经济的真正动力在于不断扩大的贸易顺差，去年贸易顺差达到近1万亿美元。去年12月的顺差为1048亿美元，是任何国家单月报告的最大顺差。

如果把去年中国出口的电动汽车和混合动力汽车首尾相连，可以从北京排到罗马。

China exported enough electric and plug-in hybrid cars last year to form a line across Asia and Europe from Beijing to Rome, Lyu Daliang, director of statistics and analysis at China’s General Administration of Customs, said during a news briefing on Monday. He did not mention that automakers also exported more than twice as many gasoline-powered cars, for which demand in China has halved since 2017 as consumers switched to electric models.

中国海关总署统计分析司司长吕大良在周一的新闻发布会上表示，如果把中国去年出口的电动汽车和插电式混合动力汽车首尾相连，可以横跨亚欧大陆、从北京达到罗马。他没有提及汽车制造商出口的汽油动力汽车数量是电动车的两倍多，自2017年以来，随着消费者转向电动车型，中国对汽油动力汽车的需求已经减少了一半。

Exports are strong partly because China’s vast population can no longer afford to buy many of the goods churned out by the country’s factories. Dozens of real estate developers have failed, vaporizing jobs and wealth. The surviving developers are struggling to finish projects and barely taking on new apartment buildings.

出口强劲的部分原因是，中国庞大的人口再也无力购买本国工厂生产的许多商品。数十家房地产开发商倒闭，工作机会和财富蒸发。幸存的开发商正努力完成项目，几乎没有承接新的公寓楼。

The middle class has lost much of its savings with a plunge in the value of homes, by far the main asset of most households. The result has been weak consumer spending that is only now starting to bottom out. Corporate profits have been eroding for the past three years.

房产是大多数家庭的主要资产，但由于房产价值暴跌，中产阶级失去了大部分积蓄。这导致消费支出疲软，现在才开始触底反弹。过去三年来，企业利润一直在减少。

The Chinese government has pursued several strategies in recent months to stabilize the economy. Government workers have been given raises. Local governments have been allowed to issue more bonds, to offset their recent declines in revenues from the sale of state land to developers.

近几个月来，中国政府采取了多项战略来稳定经济。政府工作人员获得了加薪。地方政府获准发行更多债券，以抵消向开发商出售国有土地这部分收入的减少。

The national government has encouraged the building of roads and other infrastructure projects to try to address the loss of construction jobs at real estate developers. But Beijing has had trouble finding local governments with enough money to fund these tasks.

中国政府鼓励修建道路和其他基础设施项目，试图解决房地产开发商建筑工作岗位流失的问题。但北京很难找到有足够资金的地方政府来资助这些任务。

To reignite consumer spending, the Ministry of Commerce has pursued an extensive so-called cash for clunkers program. Together, the national and local governments offer subsidies to households that trade in old gas-guzzling cars for electric vehicles and old household appliances for new, more energy-efficient models.

为了重振消费，商务部推行了一项广泛的所谓“以旧换新”计划。国家和地方政府共同向以电动汽车替代高油耗旧汽车、以更节能的新型家用电器替代旧家电的家庭提供补贴。

The program had a slow start last spring. The initial subsidies were as little as a tenth of the purchase price of the replacement car or appliance. But sales strengthened considerably through the autumn after the government doubled the financial incentives in August.

该项目去年春天起步时进展缓慢。最初的补贴仅为更换汽车或电器购买价格的十分之一。但在8月政府将财政激励措施增加一倍后，整个秋季的销售量显著增加。

中国政府试图通过推动基础设施项目来抵消建筑业就业岗位的减少，但地方政府往往缺乏执行这些项目的资金。

China’s car sales set a world record in November, then broke that record in December, when 3.1 million passenger cars were sold. Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric cars made up half the market.

中国汽车销量在11月创下世界纪录，12月又打破了这一纪录，共售出310万辆乘用车。电池电动汽车和插电式混合动力汽油电动汽车占据了市场的一半。

Some academic economists question whether the cash for clunkers program is prompting households to redirect their spending to new cars and appliances, and away from meals and other consumption. If consumers are shifting how they spend money without increasing overall spending, the effects on the economy will be modest.

一些学术界的经济学家质疑“以旧换新”计划是否促使家在新车和电器方面消费，而不是在餐饮和其他方面。如果消费者在不增加总体支出的情况下仅仅改变消费方式，那么对经济的影响将是有限的。

Government economists insist that the program is increasing overall spending. This month, they widened the range of appliances that are eligible.

政府经济学家坚持认为，该计划正在增加整体支出。本月，他们扩大了符合条件的商品范围。

“With these new policies, we can stimulate people’s consumer demand — it is not just a redirection,” Ms. Yang said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

杨萍在周三的新闻发布会上表示：“有了这个新政策以后，它实际上就是能够激发人们的消费诉求，而不是一个简单的替代。”

The government has pressured universities, banks and other institutions in mainland China and Hong Kong to make sure that their economists do not question the accuracy of government statistics. Economists who have done so have had their social media accounts blocked and have sometimes lost their jobs and been barred from working in the financial sector.

政府向中国大陆和香港的大学、银行和其他机构施压，要求它们的经济学家不得质疑政府统计数据的准确性。质疑政府统计数据准确性的经济学家会被封掉社交媒体账户，有时还会丢掉工作，并被禁止在金融部门工作。

Questions nonetheless persist about the true health of the economy. Gao Shanwen, chief economist of SDIC Securities, a Chinese brokerage, became the latest to raise doubts about the economy’s actual growth rate during a panel in Washington last month.

尽管如此，人们对中国经济的真实健康状况仍然心存疑虑。上个月在华盛顿举行的一次小组讨论会上，中国券商国家开发投资集团的首席经济学家高善文成为最新一位对经济实际增长率表示怀疑的人。

“My own speculation is that in the past two to three years, the real number on average might be around 2 percent,” he said, while adding that in the coming years, “we know, and I think, the official number will always be around 5 percent.”

他说：“我自己的猜测是过去两到三年实际增长率平均可能在2％左右，”他还说，在未来几年里，“不过我们知道官方数字将始终在5％左右。”

Mr. Gao has disappeared from public view since then. SDIC Securities did not answer questions about Mr. Gao’s remarks, and Mr. Gao could not be reached for comment. Mr. Gao’s license as an investment adviser in Hong Kong, which had been active since 2012, lapsed at the end of December.

此后，高善文从公众视野中消失了。国投证券没有回答有关他言论的问题，也无法联系到他本人置评。高善文自2012年持有的香港投资顾问执照已于去年12月底失效。

最近一个周日，在中国山东省济南，一个建筑材料市场空空荡荡。

Hou Weitang is on the front line of the economic slowdown. Mr. Hou is a wholesaler at a construction materials market in Jinan in eastern China’s Shandong Province. He has worked at the market for 20 years. It was almost deserted on a recent weekend.

侯伟堂（音）身处经济放缓的第一线。他是中国山东省济南市一家建材市场的批发商。在这个市场已经工作了20年。最近的一个周末，这里几乎无人问津。

Mr. Hou said that business just kept getting worse. Like many entrepreneurs, he now focuses on cutting costs instead of spending or investing.

他说，生意越来越差。和许多营业者一样，他现在把重点放在削减成本上，而不是支出或投资。

“We have to reduce expenses, reduce materials prices, engage in price wars and try to sell more,” Mr. Hou said. “All my costs are being cut — only this way can we keep the doors open steadily; otherwise, we won’t be able to cover expenses.”

“现在就缩减开支，降低所有成本，材料价格再往下拉，打价格战，多卖点。我所有的成本往下降，我们消费的成本也在降，只能通过这种方式才能稳定开门，不然不够费用，”他说。