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Investors looking for Chinese stocks to buy in 2014 got an amazing opportunity with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA), the largest IPO in U.S. history, when it started trading Sept. 19.
While Alibaba (which is actually based in the Cayman Islands, not China) is the biggest player in the Chinese e-commerce market, it's not the only company with huge growth potential in the country.
You see, all Internet-related industries in China are growing at an incredible rate as more residents get online.
"The number of consumers and business folks connected to the Internet in China – whether you're talking about computers, tablets, or smartphones – is bigger than the entire U.S. population," Money Morning's Executive Editor Bill Patalon said. "And the government there is actually pushing growth. Beijing has mandated that 1.2 million folks – 85% of its population – will have broadband connections (3G or 4G) by 2020."
That growth in Internet users has had a direct impact on the country's e-commerce sales figures.
Online shopping in China was a $298 billion industry in 2013, easily surpassing the $263 billion that was spent in the United States last year. That made China the top e-commerce market in the world. According to the research firm yStats, China's consumer e-commerce market soared more than 60% in 2013.
"According to the research I've seen, e-commerce in China is projected to hit $540 billion by 2015, and that's just for starters," Patalon said. "By 2020, China's e-commerce market will be worth more than the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and France combined."
By 2015, the number of Chinese e-commerce users is expected to hit 520 million – that's more than double the number expected in the United States.
"Despite that torrid growth, China is still very much an online market in development – meaning the profit opportunities are huge," Patalon said.
With that staggering growth in mind, we looked for more Chinese stocks to buy with huge profit opportunities ahead of them. Here are three of the best picks now (free, for Money Morning Members)…