One day in August 2006, a small-time unlicensed peddler approached a marketplace official who had confiscated his three-wheeled trolley – worth about $50 – and knifed him to death. Cui Yingjie’s trial has just ended in Beijing and he is awaiting sentencing. While the case was a tragedy for the dead man and his family, it is also a tragedy for China.

Mr Cui’s willingness to resort to such extreme measures is a sign of the desperation that grips China’s poor. Mr Cui, a retired soldier, was unable to find work in his native province and eked out a meagre living by baking sausages. His poverty was one reason he could not pay for a licence. Another key factor was that he faced a monopolist with massive political power.