In addition to the item below, Peter S. Goodman writes Citibank Offers Credit Card in China:

In symbolic terms, the arrival of credit cards bearing the logo of the largest bank in the citadel of capitalism, the United States, in this still nominally Communist country underscored just how far the People's Republic of China has moved from its roots. Yet, the immediate impact was marginal....

Except in major cities, few businesses accept plastic, and the country lacks central databases to check creditworthiness, as credit culture is still mostly alien in this debt-averse Confucian society. For now, Citibank's new cards will be available only in Shanghai, China's financial capital.

I'm not sure that means an awful lot.

But as China embraces credit, it confronts some unpleasant recent history. In South Korea, more than one in 10 credit card accounts are in arrears, and scores of banks have seen their profits wiped out following a disastrous credit binge that resulted from a government-led drive to spur transactions using plastic.

Still, it will have some plusses, I hope:

China also apparently has big plans for Citibank. China's banks are choked with some $500 billion in bad debts, the result of an enduring culture of politically motivated, often-corrupt lending. China's leaders are relying on the prospect of competition from foreign entrants to force domestic institutions to clean up their balance sheets and operate on commercial terms.

Anyway, I get a kick of the fact that Citibank is known in Chinese as 花旗银行 (Flower-flag bank), and 花旗 is a Chinese nickname for the US (the stars on the flag were interpreted as flowers).