Recent economic reports out of China have surprised on the upside, leading some market watchers to cast their gaze eastward in the search for the growth engine that will propel the global economy out of its current recession.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting a 1.3-percent decline in global growth in 2009 — the first contraction since World War II, and well below the 4- to 4.5- percent average global gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of the past 20 years. While the U.S. remains mired in negative growth numbers, with GDP plunging 5.7 percent in Q1 2009, China might have already hit its economic low point and be climbing higher out of its economic morass.

The question is, can it power the rest of the world to recovery?