The eight large red characters have accompanied economic news items on the leading state broadcaster for most of the past month. They signal just how hard a blow the global financial crisis is dealing to China, how worried the country's leadership has become and how it is trying to explain its efforts to fight the crisis and calm potential unrest.

“The main problem right now is a lack of confidence so we must forcefully campaign to strengthen confidence,” says Guo Zhenxi, head of China Central Television's economic channel.

The efforts are part of a broader push by the Chinese leadership to assuage fears as it faces what could become the country's sharpest slowdown in decades. Addressing the fears also lies at the centre of the Communist party's annual economic work conference that started yesterday and is focusing on how to guarantee continued growth.