Four years ago the word privatization was taboo in China. “When I came here in 1992 nobody would talk about it,” recalls one investment banker, “and we had to be very careful about mentioning that kind of thing.”
Now there is even a sign outside the building where China Eastern Airlines is working on the company’s long-awaited New York listing indicating the “China Eastern Privatization Office”.
With nearly 40 Chinese companies already listed on international exchanges, or authorized to list, and two official domestic stock markets plus a further 17 informal ones scattered across the country, the adoption by the Chinese of privatization as an acceptable part of the language should not come as much of a surprise.
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