China estimate and debate of the day

A major sign of Chinese economic malaise: In 2018, 51,302 new startups were founded in China. Last year, that number dropped to 1,202.

Here is one link, leading to others.  Here is an attempt to talk down the relevance of those numbers.  I would mention that initially there were far too many Chinese start-ups, in part because of government largesse, and so this change is not as bad as it sounds.  Nonetheless it is bad.