As China prepares to usher in the Lunar new year, the old image of a paper tiger has been replaced by that of an economic giant which commands attention and inspires awe.

Just a few weeks after the "world" has celebrated the beginning of the new year 2009, China is preparing to welcome the Lunar new year or Spring Festival which is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays.

The festival starts on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th with the Lantern Festival.

The Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and thousands of Chinese travel long distances to be reunited with their families on this occasion.

With its military might, space and nuclear programmes modern China rings the alarm bells to a world lost in financial problems. This is not to say that China is no longer Communist on the political front but somehow the Communist trait has been blended with a touch of marketing.

China has learnt to market itself and its products as the Beijing Olympic games so rightly show.

With regards to the foreign buyers and European investors for whom, since the times of Marco Polo, the fabled "China market" has long been a holy grail, the price is right. Right and cheap, even if that comes at a risk as the recent melamine tainted milk scare has proved.

China's size, exports and economic growth have also attracted investors but that is not to say that it is immune from the current global recession. In a world of buying and selling what can one sell to a nation that produces everything?

According to the Chinese Calendar 2008 was the Year of the Rat and 2009 is the Year of the Ox or was that the Fox, in a country which is shrewd enough to penetrate most of the world's markets with all types of imitations and pirated products?

The fact remains that China's exports know no bounds and despite all efforts of control from importing countries, Chinese competition seems to be here to stay.