Low property yields, cheap credit and a supportive government have driven millions of local retail investors into China's exuberant stock markets, from Shanghai to Shenzhen to Hong Kong.
The mainland's two major indices, the Shanghai and Shenzhen composites, have more than doubled in the past 12 months and many companies have price-to-earnings ratios in the hundreds.
Rises in exchange-traded funds underscore the gains. Deutsche Bank's AG ETF rose nearly 10 per cent last week while the iShares China Large-Cap fund reached its highest point since early 2008, Bloomberg reported. Calls to buy the fund have more than doubled in the last month to reach 1.7 million
But how exactly do Australian investors join the party? Chinese equities can appear confusing to those looking from the outside. For a start, there are all the different letters corresponding to share categories - A, B, H, N, S and P - a reflection of China's protectionism and internal divisions.
However, investing today is certainly easier than it was.
In the 1990s, foreign investors had no access to Chinese equities denominated in yuan, only those traded in US or Hong Kong dollars. In 2002, the Chinese government introduced its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, which gave access to A-shares - those denominated in yuan on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.
Then, last year, the government brought its equity markets closer together by approving the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect - a two-way route that gives each market a daily quota of access.
As China's economy continues to open to the West, there are two main ways Australians can join the bull run.
Choose a managed fund invested in China
Australians can invest their money in funds managed by Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors, which are allowed a quota of A shares to trade, such as the Aberdeen China Opportunities Fund and the Fidelity China Fund.
AMP's China Growth Fund, the first fund to attain QFII status in Australia in 2007, is 99 per cent based on A shares. In the March quarter it trailed the market, which rose 22 per cent, by 0.2 per cent.
"If you're looking at a market like China A-shares, it's important to have an active element to the management because of the market volatility you can experience," AMP's head of Asia equities, Patrick Ho, said.
Mr Ho said overseas funds were "hugely underweight" on China stocks while the Chinese government would encourage more foreign investment to temper the speculative excesses of local traders.
"Local investors tend to overreact," he said.
Invest in an exchange-traded fund
Another way to invest in China is through an exchange-traded fund - a fund traded on a stock exchange that usually closely tracks the performance of a market by replicating an index. ETFs allow investors to gain access to a market via one transaction, rather than many individual trades, saving investors money on fees.
There is only one ETF listed on the Australian Securities Exchange that is purely invested in China: iShares' China Large-Cap Fund. It is based on a portfolio of H-shares (Hong Kong-traded stocks) of large mainland Chinese companies such as Tencent, China Mobile and Bank of China. The fund increased 14.16 per cent in the March quarter, compared to the FTSE China 50 Index's 14.37 per cent growth.
Jon Howie, head of iShares at Blackrock Australia, said the premium between A shares and H shares had fallen considerably since the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect was opened last year.
"The Chinese government is making very deliberate steps to open up its economy and its capital markets," Mr Howie said. "As restrictions are removed, the market becomes more efficient."
Other options
Another possibility is to buy into Chinese companies on foreign exchanges. This might involve N-shares, for companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, or S-shares for those listed in Singapore.
Alternatively, investors could go through a Hong Kong broker using the Stock Connect to access the mainland A-shares.
