Let’s think warm thoughts as families across China gather round their dinner tables to celebrate the winter solstice festival on Thursday evening and assume that China’s economy is in for a soft landing and will continue to grow at around 8 per cent next year, as the more bullish economists are forecasting.

Supposing they are right, would you put your money into shares of Chinese companies?

They have delivered less than stellar returns this year. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong, has fallen 23 per cent since January. That’s worse than the CAC 40 in Paris.

At the same time, prices of so-called H shares in Hong Kong, the market where most foreign investment in Chinese companies takes place because of its lack of restrictions, are looking quite cheap.

Equities strategists such as Francis Cheung of CLSA say some sectors are reasonably well protected from what is likely to remain a tight monetary environment next year in China, and therefore make good defensive plays during volatile times.

“We conducted a consumer survey four weeks ago and the result was that people are surprisingly optimistic, and nearly 70 per cent of the respondents are planning to buy a smartphone next year,” he says.

The telecoms sector is likely to benefit from the rolling out of the 4G network during 2012. One of Cheung’s favourite stocks is ZTE, which makes smartphones and supplies equipment to operators busily upgrading their systems.

He is also positive about the auto sector, where share prices have dropped to around 8 times earnings because earlier government incentives to encourage car purchases had expired. Great Wall Motors, for example, was trading at more than 12 times earnings earlier in the year but has fallen to 7 times. “Our consumer survey shows that demand for cars is still high. Also, there are rumours that the government may introduce more support for the industry going forward,” Cheung says.

Share prices of cement manufacturers are also looking attractive. “Fixed asset investment has slowed but it is still expected to reach around 22 per cent next year and there is no over-capacity in the cement industry, unlike steel,” says Cheung.

But his favourite sector is probably the internet players – listed not in Hong Kong but on Nasdaq. The share price of Sina, which has dropped over 60 per cent since its peak in April, doesn’t reflect the enormous popularity of its instant messaging site, Weibo, he says, arguing that the internet sector is a good place to be when the economic outlook is uncertain because it is relatively decoupled from macro conditions.

Others agree with CLSA’s views that Hong Kong’s H-share market offers plenty of upside next year. Goldman Sachs economists expects the HSCEI index to gain over 20 per cent next year, for example.

Still, before you place your buy orders, bear in mind that the issues which have weighed on share prices have not gone away – matters such as the eurozone crisis, the amount of bad debt in the Chinese banking sector, fear of property prices collapsing and doubts over Beijing’s ability to steer the economy to a soft landing, for example.