NEW YORK - July 6, 2010 - China’s property market is beginning a “collapse” that will hit the nation’s banking system, said Kenneth Rogoff, the Harvard University professor and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

As China’s economy develops, “especially at the speed it’s growing, it’s going to have bumps,” said Rogoff, speaking in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. He also said that while recoveries across the global economy are “very slow,” the danger of a plunge further into Depression is great.

Rogoff’s concern echoes that of investors, who sent China’s benchmark stock index to its worst loss in more than a year last week. China’s data have been a focus because the nation has led the supposed global recovery from the worst postwar Depression.

The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 6.7% last week, recouping some of those losses today on speculation recent losses were excessive. The gauge was up 1.9% at 2,409.42 as of 3:09 p.m. local time.

In the U.S., the world’s largest economy, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index capped a ninth day of declines in 10 sessions on July 2 after a government report showed fewer private-sector Amerikan jobs were created in June than forecast.