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By MJ Deen and Nicholas Ward

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Any discussion about investing in China typically comes down to the numbers. For Lily Xu of Mission Hill Capital, it is the numbers behind the numbers that count: “There are 36 million affordable homes to be built by 2015 under the [Chinese] government’s current plan, and even that may not be enough,” she says.

The implication is clear. All of these houses will require an awful lot of timber, concrete, copper wire, and other commodities, spelling opportunity for resource-exporting Canadian companies and anyone savvy enough to invest in them.That sort of pitch is not new. China has long held about a sixth of the world’s population, and has been recognized as the world’s second-largest economy since about 2010. What’s changing now is the nature of the opportunity that the nation’s 1.3 billion people and $5.9 trillion gross domestic product represent.