China is the largest energy consumer and electricity consumer. We are also the largest consumer of steel, iron ore, copper, aluminium, zinc, lead, nickel and tin. We are the largest coal consumer, 2nd largest oil consumer and 4th largest natural gas consumer.
China is also the largest or 2nd largest market for many global companies as we are the largest market for automobiles, luxury goods, LCD tv, smartphones, tablets, computers, art, and many others. Our fiscal revenues are the 2nd largest in the world. If anything the Chinese economy is understated due to the renminbi being undervalued. In many areas we are already the largest where it's very difficult to manipulate and get away with it.
I think the Chinese economy is alot closer to the US economy than many people realise. If you look at most indicators, China is either the largest or 2nd largest only by a small margin which suggests the US is not twice as large as the Chinese economy. Nominal GDP depends on exchange rate and the Renminbi is undervalued which makes the Chinese economy smaller.
The west can laugh all it wants, but it won't change the fact that we are working hard and catching up fast. If they want to dismiss us, then go ahead, it won't stop our development. They just don't like the fact that we are rising fast and they don't have control over us. Remember the Olympics how they made up lies that our swimmer took drugs (she passed all the tests) to destroy her reputation and China itself. The western media is doing its best to slow down or stop our development but it hasn't worked in the past and it won't work now.
The communist party of China has a very thick skin, they just ignore the noise and get on with making China stronger. If the west or anyone don't believe our numbers, then so be it. Whether they believe our numbers and development or not is irrelevant to us. We just put our head down and work our butt off, have been doing that for 30+ years despite western criticism.