Surely the economic rise of China and India -- with 2.4 billion souls, or 37% of mankind -- must rank high among the megatrends that investors need to watch closely. China is fast becoming factory to the world, swallowing up manufacturing industries that used to flourish in the U.S., Japan and other developed nations. India, to the southwest, is home to many of the voices you hear when you call to complain about a charge on your credit card or to get help for your PC.

In recent years, the economic expansion in both nations has been staggering. That growth has helped push up prices of most commodities, from edible oils to petroleum. The booms have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and created tens of millions of new middle-class consumers.

You can profit by investing in the high-growth economies of these emerging Asian giants. We'll explain how later, but first come along for a quick tour of the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant.

Commerce capitals

The best way to get a sense of these nations' economic dynamism is to tour Shanghai and Bombay, the financial and commercial capitals of each. The two shipping towns share a common heritage: British imperialism. In the 18th century, the British smuggled Indian-grown opium into Shanghai, then pried the city open for foreign trade and settlement in 1843 after winning the infamous Opium War. After colonizing India, the British developed Bombay as a trading center on the Arabian Sea.

But the contrast between Shanghai and Bombay today could not be more stark. After landing at Shanghai's new Pudong International Airport, you enter an immaculate, state-of-the-art terminal. To travel into town, you zip along an eight-lane freeway in a shiny black Volkswagen taxi or hop aboard the world's fastest train, which spirits you 19 miles at 269 miles per hour.

Shanghai -- which has been transformed from communist backwater to economic powerhouse in 15 years and is now home to 17 million people -- epitomizes China's emergence as a strong, proud, ambitious nation. The recently developed Pudong financial district is a forest of futuristic skyscrapers, smart new apartment blocks and orderly, tree-lined avenues.

The first stop across the Huangpu River in the city's Puxi area is the Bund, Shanghai's magnificent waterfront. It gleams with European-style architectural gems, mostly neoclassical buildings erected in the early 20th century. The local government has lavishly restored these pre-Revolution office buildings to their former splendor.

Now picture Bombay. You ride into town from the decrepit airport in a flimsy sedan. The streets are crowded with crudely built brick houses covered with corrugated metal roofs. Deep potholes mar the roads. Throughout the city, buildings left over from the British colonial era are crumbling.

In Nariman Point, the city's old financial district, Indian women wearing flowing, brightly colored saris mingle in streets teeming with turbaned Sikhs, Muslim men in white skullcaps and Indian men dressed in sober Western business suits. One minute you smell the sweet scent of incense, the next, the stench of raw sewage from the city's antiquated, open sewers.

Bombay is more earthy and chaotic than Shanghai. The city of 17 million leaves you with the impression of a complex tapestry woven with diverse ethnic, religious and social strands -- and of a nation sitting atop a rotting infrastructure that has undergone few improvements since colonial days.

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