The sharp rally in B shares in the last two weeks came after the People's Bank of China made a rare change of wording on its exchange rate policy.

Beijing residents are taking a collective deep breath and enjoying the best air the city has had for 11 years. The Chinese capital hit its 2009 target of 260 blue-sky days a staggering 41 days before the end of the year.

The global economic downturn has not affected the personal wealth of the rich in China that continued to expand this year and also opened up more opportunities for private bankers.

Chinese entrepreneurs yesterday swarmed the China Central Television building to splurge tens of billions of yuan on the network's prime-time advertising slots for next year.

Offshore markets bet on hefty yuan gains over the next year even after the Chinese government rebuffed calls for the currency to rise.