Big changes are a foot in China. The monks at the Shaolin Temple are aiming to register the Shaolin brand as a trademark in over 80 countries,while elite British private schools have decided that opening franchises in Communist China makes perfect sense. Harry Potter has weaved his magic in China, and now even Noddy is limbering up to enter the market after a Hong Kong debut. The grown-ups can wait for Aston Martin,also in the queue.

And with the authorities aiming to transform the country into a top cricketing nation within two decades, China is keeping everyone on their toes. English footballer Paul Gascoigne moved to west China in 2003 to play for second division Gansu Tianma, while Manchester United signed Chinese striker Dong Fangzhuo the following year. China lifted man into space for the first time in 2003 and you can rocket from Shanghai's

Pudong Airport into town at 430km/h on China's first Maglev train (although your hair can turn grey waiting for your rush hour bus to move on Beijing's congested streets). In 2003 undeveloped sections of the Great Wall were declared off-limits to tourists in a bid to preserve their disintegrating remains. Confucius would have been gobsmacked at the 2004 unveiling of China's first all-women police squad in the Chinese heartland province of Henan.

Shanghai, the crown jewel of socialism with Chinese characteristics,is going places the rest of China can only dream about. First, though,the authorities have to determine how to limit the height and number of high-rises in the city after revelations that the city was subsiding faster than ever under the weight of recent construction (and over-extraction of subterranean water supplies).