The insurance industry was reintroduced into China in 1979, first with property insurance that year, followed by life insurance in 1982.

FORBES: Life Insurance In China

Mr. Peng, who used to run Merrill Lynch's property investments in China, closed the first part of his fund in the third quarter of last year, raising one billion yuan from domestic investors, and plans to have invested three billion yuan by the middle of next year.

WSJ: Chinese Developers Face Pinch

China first began tightening credit in the spring of 2010 to dampen spiraling property prices.

FORBES: China Eases Monetary Policy

Australian-listed property developer Goodman Group, which first invested in warehouses in China in 2009, has 12 logistics projects, mainly in Shanghai and nearby cities, as well as in the Bohai Bay region.

WSJ: Investors Target Logistics Property in China

Of China's 50 richest people, about half owe their fortunes in large part to property deals, according to Rupert Hoogewerf, the author of China's first rich list.

ECONOMIST: But only for a select few

Fears of a property bubble that, if it burst, could create urban China's first widespread experience of negative equity prompted the authorities in Shanghai last week to announce a 5.5% capital-gains tax on the sale of property held for less than a year.

ECONOMIST: Reforms to keep things the same