Strong gold demand in China last year is a fact, especially gold bars, driven by investors buying as reported. Could it be bullion coins (pandas) are out of favor? This would be a scenario I really hate to see.
Here in the US, gold ownership has never been so popular. I can't name even one white firend of mine who's owned any gold. And banks are making it harder by telling customers not to store gold bullion in their safe deposit boxes. For investment purpose I do agree it is much easier to buy GLD or other gold investment trusts. For more leverage, buy gold, silver ETFs, and if risk factor is tolerable, buy individual mining shares.
Physical demand of gold is there, just not much in the US. Globally, central banks were buying too, lead by Russia. IMO 2017 gold pandas are good buys at bullion price, plus the potential to become semi-key dates 10 years from now, if one does not have any bullion as core holdings already. If world war III breaks out, and Paper money becomes worthless, at least I have a few gold coins to buy food, until the end. As least I don't die starving.