After lagging the u.s. market for several years, China’s stock market seems to be perking up lately, and Richard Gao, manager of the Matthews China Fund, believes investors have reason for optimism. While it’s true that China’s 10%-14% GDP growth in the late 1990s and early 2000s appears unlikely to happen again anytime soon, he says, growth in the 7% to 8% range is a “reasonable expectation.” Furthermore, that growth is becoming more diversified and stable thanks to increasing demand for consumer goods by the country’s growing middle class.