How China Cooks Its Books      Western media outlets often
portray Chinese book-cooking as part and parcel of a monolithic
central government and omnipotent Beijing bureaucrats. But the
problem is manifold, a product of centralized government as well
as decentralized officials.  Pressure to distort or fudge
statistics likely comes from up high -- and it's intense. "China
announces its annual objective of GDP growth rate each year. In
Chinese culture, the government has to reach the objective;
otherwise, they will 'lose face,'" said Gary Liu, deputy
director of the China Europe International Business School's
Lujiazui International Financial Research Center. "For instance,
the government announced that it wanted to ensure a GDP growth
rate of 8 percent in 2009, and it has become the priority for
government officials to meet that objective."  But local and
provincial governmental officials are the ones who actually
fiddle with the numbers. They retain considerable autonomy and
power, and have a self-interested