Forget ShangKong; what about ShangLon? At Tuesday’s mini-summit, Alistair Darling, UK chancellor, will impress on Wang Qishan, China’s vice premier, the desirability of allowing foreign companies to list in China. In return, Mr Darling will assure him that UK markets will bend over backwards to host Chinese issuers.

Never mind that Beijing’s promised reforms will take longer than the two to three years some expect. Why would companies from either side want to do this? Many of the Chinese companies that listed shares in London before a clampdown three years ago wish they hadn’t bothered. Four-fifths of them are on Aim, a growth market in a deep cyclical dip, where delistings outnumbered new admissions this year 14 to one. The largest, Green Dragon Gas, made its debut shortly before the state passed the notorious Ordinance 10, requiring companies to seek permission before venturing abroad. Covered by just one analyst, Green Dragon was traded 19 times last month, generating volumes equal to 0.01 per cent of its £413m market capitalisation.