Major holdings in the Hong Kong index include:

• Cheung Kong, one of the largest developers of residential, office, retail, industrial, and hotel property in Hong Kong.
• CLP Holdings, one of the largest electric utilities in Asia and the largest electricity provider in Hong Kong.
  Esprit Holdings, a Hong Kong-based fashion retailer selling affordable, luxury items primarily to the young adult and teenage markets.
• Hang Seng Bank, a strongly capitalized commercial bank.
• Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, the holding company for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• Hutchison Whampoa, a diverse corporation with a broad array of holdings. It operates in five of the seven busiest container ports in the world.
• Sun Hung Kai Properties, the largest real-estate developer in Hong Kong.
• Swire Pacific owns and manages several major shopping malls, including Festival Walk and Cityplaza. It is also an anchor bottler of Coca-Cola and the biggest shareholder of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's largest airline.
• he Hong Kong & China Gas, the leading public utility in Hong Kong.
  "Why Hong Kong and why now? One reason is that the Hong Kong market remains the safest and most liquid direct play on the world's fastest-growing major economy, China.

"Another reason is that this market tends to really fly during a recovery. For example, it fell 50% following the brutality in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

"But during the next five years, the Hang Seng index soared 500%. Traders who want income can look forward to a 6.26% dividend yield, too. So pick up iShares MSCI Hong Kong."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.