“中国人不怕，中国人能吃苦！”

Mr. Trump’s main problem is that he and his team evidently — and wrongly — assumed China was so desperate to protect its exports to the United States that it would simply bend to his will.

But China is in some respects better prepared today to hold its ground than it was during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Recurring periods of hardship in Chinese history have embedded in the nation’s psyche a capacity for endurance and fortitude. The phrase for this is “chi ku,” or to “eat bitterness.” Younger Chinese today are accustomed to more comfortable consumer lives than previous generations, but chi ku still runs strong.

但对习惯于吃苦的中国人来说，转向少产多消费相对容易；而美国这样一个以消费为中心的国家，要向相反方向转型则更为艰难。

But it is easier for the Chinese, conditioned to endure hardship, to shift toward producing less and consuming more than for a consumer-centric economy like the United States to move the other way.