When I visited, house-size graders were levelling it to within a six-inch tolerance, and it was almost ready to be paved.

NEWYORKER: The Miner��s Daughter

With mountains of bad loans already weighing down their balance sheets, banks have little tolerance for other assets that perform almost as badly especially since they are counted towards their capital ratios.

ECONOMIST: Japanese shares

In the past couple of years central-government tolerance of whingers from the provinces has been strained almost to breaking point by its fears of instability during huge public events: the Olympic games in August 2008 and this year's National Day celebrations.

ECONOMIST: China's other face