When is fast growth not fast enough?

China grew at 9% in the September quarter, despite running at 25% less capacity (due to attempts to reduce pollution during the Olympics). "Slowest Pace in Five Years", bloomberg reports.

The current market sentiment is apparently this: We had expected China to grow exponentially and infinitely (boom-time thinking) and now, all we see is downhill, with blame falling on the US-induced 'global recession' and a pullback from an overheating economy. Even Rio Tinto's Tom Albanese is cautious near-term.

But for those with a conviction on the China story (a huge population adjusting to a higher standard of living, and a domestic-focussed, insulated economy), surely this is the time to place contrarian bets on negative sentiment?

And since when was 9%pa slow?