From Times Online:

Any talk about Western economic prospects will soon turn to China. Its exports are the top threat to Western manufacturers and have brought price deflation to the high street.

China’s capital spending boom and rising living standards also offer tantalising prospects for exporters in the stagnant eurozone or Japan. By expanding output by 8 per cent to 10 per cent a year, China is rapidly overhauling most of the group of seven top industrial nations. Fast-growing Chinese demand for raw materials has brought steep increases in the prices of key commodities, including oil, curbing Western growth.

At least, you might think, investing in these fast-expanding Chinese companies should be a one-way bet. Strangely, that one way has been downwards.