日前，国家出台措施要进一步加强淘汰落后产能（to eliminate outdated industrial capacity）工作，重点指向电力（power）、煤炭（coal）、钢铁（steel）、水泥（cement）、有色金属（non-ferrous metals）、焦炭（coke）、造纸（paper making）、皮革（tannery）、印染（printing and dyeing）等九大行业。

       那么，什么是落后产能呢？一般可以从两个角度进行考察。一是根据生产的技术水平进行判断。所谓落后产能，就是指生产设备、生产工艺的技术水平低于行业平均水平的生产能力。二是从生产能力造成的后果进行判断。如果生产设备、生产工艺的污染物排放（pollutant emissions）、能耗（energy consumption）、水耗（water consumption）等技术指标高于行业平均水平，则该生产能力就是落后产能。

       “落后产能”还可以用英文表达为outdated production capacity或者outmoded production capacity。

请看相关报道：

China will continue to shut down outdated capacity in major industrial sectors to reduce pollution, save energy, and upgrade industry, the State Council, or Cabinet, said in a statement released Tuesday.

The sectors include power, coal, steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, coke, paper making, tannery and printing and dyeing, according to the statement.

The country will eliminate by the end of 2010 more than 50 million kilowatts of small coal-fired power generators and 8,000 small coal mines which are lacking in work safety standards, overly energy-intensive or not environmentally friendly.

—— Excerpt from Gov't to eliminate outdated industrial capacity

The government will step up efforts to eliminate outdated production capacity, said a statement issued by the State Council on Wednesday.

Eliminating outmoded production capacity was imperative to transform the economic growth pattern, boost economic growth quality and fight the global downturn, said the statement issued after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Eliminating outdated production capacity was also necessary to promote energy efficiency and emissions cuts and address global climate change, the statement said.

—— Excerpt from China to speed up elimination of outdated production capacity

       目前，在讨论落后产能时有人经常将其与产能过剩（industrial overcapacity）相混淆。与落后产能是个技术判断不同，产能过剩是个市场判断，超过市场需求（实际产出）一定程度的产能是过剩产能。当然，落后产能与过剩产能也并非是完全割裂、非此即彼的。在完善的市场经济条件下，过剩的产能一般包括落后产能；而落后产能的淘汰、退出能够改变市场的供求关系，减轻产能过剩的程度。请看相关报道：

The problem of overcapacity in China had no relation to the central government's investment in the 4-trillion-yuan (585.6 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package, Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday during an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

...

"Industrial overcapacity has been a global issue, which fundamentally results from less demand and a shrinking market," Wen said.

In China, industrial overcapacity was also a result of the long-existing problem of an imbalanced economic structure, he said.

"To resolve the problem of overcapacity, the most important thing is to take economic, environmental, legal and, if necessary, administrative measures to eliminate backward capacity and, in particular, restrict the development of industries with excess capacity," he said.

—— Excerpt from China's overcapacity no relation to central government investment