It is somewhat fake. Digging a hole and filling it shows up on GDP statistics even though it is pointless and adds no real wealth to the population. Chinese growth is a lot like this. A lot of production for the sake of production. They tend to have overproduction in many sectors. So they their GDP growth is made up of a lot of stuff nobody is demanding. Of course this kills profits, but since China had capital controls investors can't move their money elsewhere.

This is why Chinese growth is considered unbalanced. Also a great example of the stupidity of obsessing about GDP numbers.