Chinese Rename 2017 ‘Year of the Skip’ in Bid to Kick-Start Economy

Does this hold the key to China’s economic salvation?

Roosters are out and skips are in. Beijing unveils its plan to rescue faltering Chinese expansion.

With China’s 2016 Q1 growth barely scraping into triple figures, top officials are hurriedly devising unconventional ways to encourage consumer spending.

An official Party communique explained ‘”Year of the Skip” is a ground-up initiative that we hope will prompt families to undertake home improvement projects -which in turn will have a knock-on effect for the manufacturing and service sectors’.  Indeed we have already seen a spike in the demand for skips, and contractors and hauliers are preparing for a bumper year’.

Among the community-based activities planned are:

• Skip Parties, with prizes for the best in-skip food and decorations
• Skip races, with teams competing over a one mile course using standard sized car wheels or (in colder areas) skis

The centrepiece will be a national competition to find ‘How Many Kids Can Fit In A Skip’.  Winners of regional heats will converge in Beijing for the Grand Final, to be judged by Premier Li Keqiang.

‘This competition also marks our recently-relaxed policies on single child families’, said the communique ‘and by 2017 we expect there to be plenty of babies – especially girls – that can be used.

‘We may also extend the re-naming process if this first one is successful.  Possible options include:’

• Year of the Property Developer
• Year of the Bricklayer
• Year of the Loan Shark
• Year of the Crack Dealer