More money is moving in a new direction in China - out. Some Chinese are so eager to turn their yuan into other assets that when a tour of foreclosure auctions in the United States was advertised on the China Wide Web, it received so many applications that it had to turn away nearly 400 people.

In Shanghai, cash-rich Chinese companies are buying high-yield bonds issued by distressed American companies at a time when many Western investors are steering clear of bonds even from solid companies.

To prevent China’s currency from rising, the Chinese government has been buying up the dollars pouring into the country from trade and foreign investment, accumulating more foreign exchange reserves than Japan, Saudi Arabia and Russia put together.

And in Hong Kong, wealthy mainlanders are turning up at jewelry stores in growing numbers seeking diamonds, big ones.

Gold figurines celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Ox