The world is waking up to the fact that China is becoming a new economic superpower. In just one and a half decades, China has transformed itself from a dormant, introspective giant into a dynamic powerhouse of major significance to the world economy. It currently provides the only major, rapidly growing economy in an otherwise recession-hit world. Western exporters, multinationals and emerging market investors are looking to China almost as if it were a new El Dorado. The strategic centre of gravity is also shifting towards China and other dynamic Asia-Pacific nations, bringing about fundamental changes in traditional balance-of-power equations. Geographically, this 'Rising East'1 encompasses a vast triangle that extends from the Russian far east and Korea in the northeast, to Australia in the south and Pakistan in the west. It seems that the twenty-first century will be shaped by new racial and cultural forces. For several hundred years, the world has been dominated by white Europeans and Americans who hold to Judaeo-Christian traditions and they will soon be obliged to accept as equals yellow and brown Asians who adhere to the tenets of Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Islam. In the next twenty years, Asia, currently home to more than half the world population, will most likely have five of the world's six largest economies, the US being the other. China has emerged as the rising star of the entire region, economically and politically. In ancient times, so strong was China that its people became accustomed to thinking of their country as the Middle Kingdom or Zhungguo, the centre around which all else revolved. By all standards, it is indeed a nation of gigantic proportions and has, once again, become the focal point of world-wide attention due to its significant impact on the global economy and balance-of-power strategies.