Is it time to buy Chinese stocks?

This week, the cover story in US financial paper Barron’s warns readers to expect a hard landing in China. It covers all the bases. China has relied too much on exports (not a viable model when your customers in the US and Europe have no money) and infrastructure building (not viable when you’ve built too much of it already). So now it faces a property crash, and tighter credit, just at a time when it’s trying to become a consumer-driven economy. That’s a tough task for anyone to tackle. It’s even tougher for a country burdened with vested interests who would rather keep the state-owned enterprises in control than let the private sector breathe. Oh, and on top of that, there’s a change of leadership to cope with. However, it doesn’t add anything new to the story that MoneyWeek readers wouldn’t already have picked up from our various China covers over the last couple of years. (Read this piece from June 2011 for a full rundown of the bear case: China is heading for a fall – here’s what it means for you). And that got me thinking. If the China story is only now hitting the mainstream, and there’s not much new to add to it – well, maybe it’s time to have another look at Chinese stocks…