192 IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON Under China's policy of opening up its economy, access to funds in international capital markets had become a major objec- tive for most domestic insurers. The strategy was in tune with the government's policy of encouraging Chinese insurers to become bigger and stronger in order to compete with international play- ers. In December 2003, PICC, the largest property insurer in China, went public, raising $800 million in Hong Kong. China Life, the largest life insurer in China, soon followed suit with its $2.5 billion listing in New York. China Life became the world's largest IPO in 2003. Ping An's Four Pillars of Growth As part of the strategy to transform Ping An into an integrated financial services group, Peter Ma adopted a "Four Pillars" model in early 2000. The four pillars were based on: