I found this article optimistic;

From Bloomberg:

Lion Fund Management Co. will raise up to $500 million in China to invest in overseas exchange-traded funds backed by gold, the first in the country be approved to do so, a company executive said today.

The fund manager has received approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Yang Zi, an executive at Lion Fund's marketing deparment said by phone from Beijing. Institutional and retail investors can buy into the fund via banks, she said.

"We will be the first fund in China to offer an access to invest in overseas gold-backed ETFs," Yang said. "Given the inflationary environment we are in right now, Chinese investors have great enthusiasm for gold investments."

China doesn't have a gold-backed ETF and investors normally buy physical gold jewelry, bars or coins, or invest through gold contracts traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the Shanghai Futures Exchange or through banks.

Gold demand in China, the world's largest producer, gained in the first half of this year as government measures to cool the property market and falling equities spurred investment, the Shanghai Gold Exchange said July 7.

Gold for immediate delivery climbed to a record $1,424.60 an ounce on Nov. 9 as investors sought to protect their wealth amid concerns about the global economic recovery, and is headed for a 10th consecutive annual increase.

Sales of gold products such as bars and coins by China National Gold Group Corp., owner of the country's largest deposit, jumped as much as 40 percent in the first half, Song Quanli, deputy party secretary at the company, said July 7.

Exchange-traded funds have become popular worldwide since their creation in 1993 as they widened investors' access to different types of assets.