The chinese market is sizzling, with overseas investors felling over themselves to get a piece of the action. Even Warren Buffett has succumbed, acquiring a 13 per cent stake in China's largest company, state-controlled oil giant PetroChina. And little wonder. Economic growth has averaged seven per cent for five consecutive years and, in 2003, despite the SARS outbreak, rose to nine per cent. This communist tortoise is metamor-pnosizing into a nare. Market incentives and overseas imports complement export-driven growth. While China has some way to go before becoming a true market economy, reforms first introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 are gradually gaining ground. In particular, reform of China's banking sector is speeding up as the country enters its third year of World Trade Organization accession. Much has changed in China in the last couple of decades. Not so long ago, its financial system was an instrument of the "planned economy". Regular financial market activities were banned. And the People's Bank of China was the country's sole financial institution, serving not just as the central bank but also providing its only commercial banking services.
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