China super-bull Jim O'Neil believes there is no stopping the country's juggernaut. At a conference in London last month, the Goldman Sachs chief economist argued that the crisis has proved what doubters did not believe: that China's growth is sustainable, that domestic demand is catching up with exports, and that China will play a key role in the global economy.
To take up this new role, Shanghai will have to fulfil its ambition to be an international financial centre (IFC) by 2020. There is no doubt that China's financial markets have seen staggering growth and are increasingly mature, but not everybody believes the government will be willing to take the final, most crucial steps that will make the IFC possible.
First, the government would have to establish the rule of law - including an independent judiciary; without it, the IFC is a dream. In capital markets terms, this would mean ceding what the government sees as its right to intervene in markets when it deems fit, and to influence the allocation and pricing of resources. Market discipline simply does not exist.
Political involvement in every aspect of the economy, financial system and cultural life of China is seen as a central element of the country's Communist ethos.
Second, because an IFC cannot exist alongside a fixed exchange rate, the government would have to float the currency freely. Despite subtle messages that 2020 may be an implicit deadline for currency liberalisation, many believe that this is unlikely as long as the government is determined to support its export-driven economic model. Mr O'Neil may argue that domestic consumption is growing but it still represents just 35% of GDP, and the government has continued to accumulate still more foreign currency reserves - which reached $2132bn (more than 40% of GDP) in June.
Structural weaknesses
There are other issues. Pushed by government, China's banks have been on a $1500bn lending spree this year and it is hard to imagine that a good proportion of this will not turn into bad loans that drag down the financial system. Anyway, much of that money has leaked into the stock market or been misallocated to poor quality real estate, badly planned infrastructure and overcapacity in industrial sectors.
This is before we even touch on the other challenges that China faces - corruption, environmental devastation, social unrest, the only ageing population among developing countries and hundreds of millions of people still living in poverty.
It is easy to be swayed by the China story, because it is an exciting and seductive one. But the country's immense and complex challenges will not be easily overcome.
