There are reports of fairly frequent blackouts in some of China's provinces, especially Hebei, which almost encircles Beijing. Some of the reports detail the inconveniences caused, and the conflict between cutting power supply to manufacturers (to lower production) and to households, which involves social costs and discomfort.

For uninitiated observers, such as most Western journalists and their readers, this may be no news or plain "rustic mismanagement". In fact the deliberate reduction of power supply is part of a concerted national effort to limit energy consumption, negotiated between the central and provincial governments.

China's attempts at self-deprivation are worth taking note of. Of course, we still see examples of drivers taking a nap or resting in their cars with the air conditioner on, and other slovenly wastage. But admirable national policies are being implemented slowly and surely against inertia. It is not strange for newly arrived Westerners, or those ensconced in comfortable urban pads to see the problems and overlook the work in progress.

There are still some huge gaps in understanding between the West and China, and the miraculous three decades of China's development has given rise to serious pains among the Chinese as well foreigners. It is necessary to read between the headlines on one issue: China has overtaken or is about to overtake the US as the country with the most voracious appetite for energy. But it seems Chinese and US nationals both have failed to do so.

Wall Street Journal reporters interviewed the International Energy Agency (IEA) chief economist in a New York hotel and were told that preliminary 2009 estimates of total-oil-equivalent consumption showed China was above the US. For the Western media, this became a stick to beat China with. What the media deliberately neglected to state is that renewable wind and solar energy and hydro-electricity had been added with oil and coal. No wonder, there is zero acknowledgement for China's advances there. Also, China's per capita energy consumption is still one-fifth that of the US.

The IEA website headlined the news in a way that suggested China was overtaking the US as the largest energy consumer. But then it softened the rhetoric, and even added a paragraph to say China had made "such progress" in curbing energy intensity (energy per dollar of output) and in becoming a world leader in renewable energy technologies.