The economic crisis around world has put China under the spotlight. The world’s third largest economy, who also holds nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserve, has started to use its nearly $600 stimulus package to revive its economy, building highways and railroads, investing in educations, and improving social welfare. While banks in the U.S. are struggling to clean up their books, banks in China have made $156 billion new loans in February after lending $237 billion in January (Bloomberg.com) to support the 8% growth target. And the government’s action has produced some encouraging results: Retail sales have stabilized in the first two months and power output actually increased 5% in February.

And Chinese stocks are the best performers so far in 2009. The Shanghai Composite Index has gained 18% this year after falling more than 65% in 2008, while the S&P 500 index, coming off fresh 12-year low last week, lost nearly 9% during the same period. Some economists predicted that China will be the first country to come out of this recession. If China indeed takes this economic downturn as an opportunity to strengthen its ability to compete globally for the long-term (NYT), investors can expect to profit from China’s recovery and expansion.

For investors who want to tap into the growth of the Chinese economy, there are a few options in the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) arena which provide the much needed diversifications.