The good news for investors is that the mainland registered its slowest economic expansion for three years with first quarter gross domestic product growth coming in at 8.1 per cent. Indeed the World Bank forecasts that growth for the whole year will be 'only' 8.2 per cent, the lowest figure in a decade.
So why is this bad news good for investors? For a start, wily investors know, or should know, that GDP figures and stock market returns are two very different things.
History shows that when news emerges that economic growth is slowing, markets take fright and share prices tumble. This dynamic played out exactly in the mainland market recently, with the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index down about 24 per cent over the past year.
Investors will eventually realise that a weak economy does not necessarily mean weak corporate profits. For example, firms in the United States were reporting robust income gains through 2010 that translated into a stock market surge well before the country's tepid economic recovery kicked in.
But even when bargains are evident, many investors won't take advantage, preferring, as they often do, to buy high and sell low along with the rest of the herd.
The current situation in Chinese markets provides a classic example of opportunity obscured by gloom. The CSI 300 Index closed last Tuesday at a price/earnings ratio of 12.9 times. This compares to a 10-year average for the index of 22.6 times.