China has emerged as a temporary oasis amid the "credit crunch" going on in the rest of the world. With the Beijing Olympics now less than a year away, the Chinese economy is experiencing an Olympic-sized adrenaline rush. The Chinese economy keeps soaring, no matter what its central bank does. Last Tuesday, the People's Bank of China hiked its key interest rate by 0.27% for the fourth hike this year. The People's Bank of China's deposit rate is now 3.6%, while its lending rate rose 0.18% to 7.02%.

This latest move was widely expected due to the fact that China's GDP grew at an 11.9% annual pace in the second quarter and inflation surged to an annual pace of 5.6% in July. The fact that China's trade surplus has risen 85% so far this year and its economy continues to boom means that the Chinese yuan should continue to slowly but steadily appreciate against the U.S. dollar, which is very good news for the China-based stocks I recommend in my Global Growth service.

Mt top-rated China stock right now is China Southern Airlines (ZNH). Second-quarter revenue grew by 19.2% from the same period last year, the company said, citing a "strong national economy, a stable increase of market demand and an appreciation of the Chinese yuan against major currencies such as the U.S. dollar."

During the first half of 2007, China Southern launched 56 new flight routes, including nine international routes. As of June 30, the airline operated a total of 592 routes, of which 478 were domestic, 21 were Hong Kong and Macau, and 93 were international, to 154 cities, using a fleet of 318 aircraft (with an average age of 6.89 years). Last week, the company also said it plans to buy 55 Boeing (BA) B737 aircraft for delivery between May 2011 and October 2013.