In total, since 2011, China has imported more than 5,000 tonnes. That’s more than is in the vaults of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and more even than Germany’s holdings (around 3,400 tonnes). Another three years at a similar rate, and China will have imported more gold than there is at Fort Knox.

The cumulative impact is astonishing. Add China’s domestic production into the equation, as well as the recycling of scrap, and it seems that since 2009, more than 12,000 ounces of gold have either been produced in, or imported to, China.

It’s pretty easy to start drawing the conclusion that China is planning to return the world to some kind of international gold standard and thereby undermine US imperial and economic might by destabilising the dollar.