As global markets freeze, fret and fall, there is an island of bullish sentiment way out east. Welcome to China’s stock market, 75 per cent up on the year, which is building historical highs on an almost daily basis while the rest of the world watches America’s subprime troubles and sells off.

China’s market has come a long way in a short time. From kerb trading on the back streets of Shanghai in 1984, the market’s official capitalisation is now $2,700bn. It has been one of the world’s best-performing markets over the past 12 months. Average prices are some 50 times historical earnings, with a number of companies having price/earnings ratios of more than 1,000. Risk aversion? There is no easy Mandarin translation.