China's GDP growth fell to 6.8% in the year to the fourth quarter, the slowest pace for seven years.

ECONOMIST: Business this week | The

"By any standard, China's GDP growth is still among the highest in the world, but stock valuations are among the cheapest in the region, " said Mingchun Sun, Asia economist for Daiwa Securities.

WSJ: The People's Money: Why Chinese Stocks Are Alluring

China's GDP growth slowed to an annual rate of a mere 10.1% in the second quarter of this year, from 12.6% a year earlier, and most economists expect it to drop to 8-9% in 2009.

ECONOMIST: China is pretty well placed to cushion a global downturn