Seven of the companies on our third annual Fabulous 50--the best of Asia-Pacific's biggest listed companies--come from China. That is more than any previous year.

China may be the workshop of the world, but all its companies featured here rely on domestic customers. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has the biggest domestic market in the world in terms of the raw number of consumers.

Of course, having a huge market doesn't guarantee success. China Minsheng and Lenovo Group still have to convince customers that their products are the better choice.

To compile our list, we looked at long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth, stock price appreciation and projected earnings for every company in the region with revenues or market capitalization of at least $5 billion.

More Chinese companies would have made our list--the country is home to three of the world's six largest companies by market value--but we include only companies with a five-year record of operating profitability and return on equity.

We had several repeat performers on this year's list: China Minsheng and Lenovo were two, along with CNOOC, Minmetals and China Mobile. Although all but one of these companies count the government as an owner, they have shareholders and boards to please as well. Transparency also remains an issue, even at the biggest of the old state-owned outfits.

This was another banner year for Taiwan's low-profile tech industry, with 10 entries. Another four came from Hong Kong. Nearly all of the Taiwan and Hong Kong companies grew along with China, either feeding its factories or finding an export niche.

India is again home to more Fab 50 companies than anywhere else. Twelve Indian firms made the cut, including its Big Four information technology outsourcers.

Of the other eight that make the list, companies such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel are growing fast by reaching out to India's rural customers, not to Western markets. Others, such as Grasim, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance, are shoring up the country's infrastructure at a furious pace.

Domestic demand is what put retailers such as Japan's Yamada Denki and Australia's Woolworths back on our list this year as well.

Also of note: The Fab 50 companies are an acquisitive lot. Tata Steel bought Britain's Corus Group to a chorus of cheers back home, despite the $13 billion price tag. Corus includes the remnants of British Steel. The irony was not lost in India.

Then, Doosan Infracore of South Korea bought Bobcat, maker of the American tractors that can crunch concrete and still pivot on a dime, for $5 billion. Taiwan computer maker Acer is angling for Gateway in the U.S. The scores of smaller acquisitions by companies such as Li & Fung, a Hong Kong logistics firm, and IOI, Malaysia's palm plantation operator, collectively will add tens of billions of dollars in sales to this group.

No wonder these stars are also busy raising new equity and debt by the bushel. With the stock market raging in China, many of the Chinese companies on our list are planning new listings of their own.

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