Winston Churchill famously referred to the Berlin Wall as the “Iron Curtain” that separated the free from the oppressed.

In the investment world, there’s an “iron curtain,” too – namely, between retail investors and privileged, high-end investors, such as hedge funds, pension funds, and institutions.

In short, most individual investors unfortunately receive secondhand, conventional, run-of-the-mill advice.

But sophisticated investors like my former client, the Tiger Management hedge fund, value private, timely, on-the-ground intelligence. They expect a global perspective, coupled with local acumen.

I saw this firsthand on my recent investment tour across Southeast Asia, where I got the real lowdown on what’s happening in China…

Problems Mounting

While in Singapore, where wealth assets have surged by 1,120% since 2000, I had fascinating meetings with tycoons, bankers, and ambassadors about the state of both the global and local markets.

The topic of conversation obviously turned to China. Not just because of its recent stock market woes, but because for centuries, countries like Singapore have been China’s competitors, suppliers, investors, and borrowers all rolled into one.

So they have to know what’s happening behind the scenes in China because their very survival depends on it.

But right now, they’re worried…

For a start, the main concern is that China’s economy is slowing, as the two drivers of past growth – investment in manufacturing/industry and exports – pull back for different reasons.

In addition, China’s real estate bubble is unwinding, industrial manufacturing capacity is way beyond current needs, and the country’s once-powerful labor cost advantage has evaporated, as countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and even Mexico now have lower labor costs than China.

To put things in perspective, manufacturing wages in China have risen 10-fold over the last decade.