China with it's planning economy that has embraced 'bail out economics' (Keynesian) in a way that Micheal Keynes could have never imaged possible via massive stimulus programs, has also caused (and is still causing) market distortion/s from the sheer weight of Chinese risk on/risk off demand on markets, market manipulation and fuggey economic statistics.
But as everyone knows, you pump money (in China's case a flood of money) into the economy it's goes into speculation (in a feverish way); China now has a tea bubble:
"The rare tea made from bushes from the tea gardens of the Ming Dynasty emperors has become the latest craze for wealthy Chinese investors with their sights on a quick profit.
Prices for the Dahongpao tea, which is only grown in a small mountainous area of east coast province of Fujian, have increased tenfold since the middle of last year with online tea traders selling a single kilo for more than £1,000, the country's state media has reported.
"I never thought it would get so expensive," a tea producer, Wu Zongyan said. "It's one price one day, another price another day. Between when we pick the leaves and when it's ready to sell, the price has already gone up."
Chinese traditionally prize tea as the symbolic heart of national culture and believe that in varieties and taste differentials rival that of wine. China is prone to extreme speculative bubbles as opportunity-starved investors seek a home for their cash outside the traditional venues of the stock and property markets which are themselves notoriously volatile and speculative.
In the past year auction houses in China and Hong Kong have all reported fetching record prices for everything from Imperial artwork to French claret and, most recently, Communist-era stamps as speculators search for an outlet for their money."
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