Thank God or Mao for China!!

China’s record imports and a rebound in lending signaled strength in demand that offers a bright spot in a global economy contending with Europe’s debt crisis and weakening U.S. job gains.

Shipments from abroad jumped 30 percent and new local- currency loans were a more-than-forecast 548.5 billion yuan ($86 billion), government reports in the past two days showed. At the same time, August figures released Sept. 9 indicated that policy makers have made progress in stemming inflation, which eased from a three year high, to a 6.2 percent year-on-year pace.

The data may bolster confidence that the world’s second- largest economy is weathering both Premier Wen Jiabao’s campaign to defuse price pressures and financial turmoil abroad. Group of Seven finance chiefs vowed “a concerted effort” to support expansion on Sept. 9 as Europe’s debt woes and zero jobs growth in the U.S. increase the risks of a renewed recession.

“This all points to a robust economy, and a hard landing looks an increasingly distant scenario,” said Liu Li-gang, a Hong Kong-based economist with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. who previously worked for the World Bank. “China is less reliant on external demand and more dependent on investment and consumption, so the deteriorating global outlook will have less of an impact than during the previous financial crisis.”