It's funny how I don't personally know anyone getting filthy rich in the Chinese market - and I bet you don't know anyone, either.

But you wouldn't know that by reading or watching the financial media (this scribe included). Our gushy love affair with China is getting pathetic - our missives on the country's economy, burgeoning middle class, and financial growth prospects read like 500-word valentines.

I found another reason to write one today, and I'll do so, but I'll follow up with an important caveat and some advice on how to really get into the action in China, investment-wise.

Here's the deal. China's mobile marketing sector, supported by a surge in the mobile subscriber base to over 530 million users, is on track to grow over 40% in 2007 and 55% in 2008. Those are huge numbers, obviously. So huge that you now have consumer electronics companies like Sharp - who have never really delved into the mobile phone market - getting ready to do so with a big splash in 2008. You've already got Nokia, Sprint, Motorola, Sony and even Apple diving into the market, so there is no shortage of companies to invest in. You've also got Pacific Rim companies who may be better poised to take advantage of such growth. At the top of that list includes Konka Mobile, Amoi, Haier, Guangzhou Jinpeng Group, and Yulong Communication.

Of course, one of the big myths on Wall Street is that everyone is getting rich on China stocks – mobile or otherwise. That’s really not the case. While the Chinese economy has been roaring along at a 10% growth rate in recent years, its stock markets have been fairly mediocre. No surprise there – economies and markets are often divergent (see U.S of A. – 2008). It’s also tough to buy individual stocks in China. Most are either “A” shares or “B” shares – classes that are designed in structure to make it tough for foreigners to get in on the action.

But there is another way to get in. Henry Blodget, Wall Street analyst-to-the-stars, advises buying China mobile companies via traditional mutual funds. “Leave China stock-picking to professional investors who live in China, visit the companies, and speak Chinese (in other words, people who possess the basic advantages that, in any industry but this one, one might assume were essential to the task), and buy a mutual fund instead,” he writes. “This is wise. But here, too, beware. Even dime-a-dozen, U.S.-focused mutual funds often charge egregious fees, so you can imagine what most foreign funds charge. It may be true, as some argue, that China's markets are so inefficient that fund managers can justify fat fees by delivering above-market performance (the opposite of the case in the United States, where they seldom do), but we don't have enough history to know for sure. In any case, you're probably best off seeking low-cost active funds, passive index funds, or exchange-traded funds (single securities designed to track an index).”

Sound advice. It seems that capitalizing on the China mobile market is harder than it looks. But it’s doable.