China is an editor’s dream. A potent cocktail of high-octane returns, political intrigue and great future prospects make the Chinese economy and Chinese stocks a compelling story.

But many questions linger: Is the economy for real? Should investors be overweight China? Is the current market a bubble? Will Chinese markets continue to open up? How prone are they to sudden intervention by the central government? Remarkably, this issue of the Journal of Indexes takes a serious shot at answering all of those questions, thoughtfully and in depth.

First up is Burton Malkiel, the longtime index industry titan who has of late made China a sort of personal crusade. This issue includes not only an in-depth interview with Burton, but also an excerpt from his excellent new book on (you guessed it) China. On the heels of the Malkiel contributions is an outstanding roundtable of China and index industry experts including the likes of Jim Rogers, John Prestbo, Richard Gao and Mark Makepeace, among others. It is quite simply an outstanding and illuminating feature.

Staying on the international theme is Steven Schoenfeld, with another unparalleled submission analyzing the shifting dynamics of thoughtful international allocation. Tom Haines weighs in with a feature on the role currencies and currency investing play.

Anchoring the issue is Brian Jacobsen, who makes the case for better benchmarks to reflect the real-world possibilities created by investment policy statements. Bringing us home is a David Blitzer homily to liquidity and the Curmudgeon being as wacky as ever. We hope you enjoy the issue as much as we did, and wish you success in navigating the tricky terrain of the Chinese stock market.

Jim Wiandt
Editor