China is SA's largest country-to- country trade partner, and the second-biggest economy in the world. It is also the biggest investor in African infrastructure .
The countries signed four agreements in various fields of specialisation , Mr Zuma said yesterday.
These agreements of co-operation are in the fields of geology and mineral resources, environment management, railways and transportation.
One of the goals of the visit was to learn how China had succeeded in the beneficiation of minerals .
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies told Business Day, after his trip to China in June, that SA was on a drive to learn lessons on beneficiation from emerging markets.
Earlier this month, Mr Davies visited the Russian Federation to learn what methods SA could use to propel its beneficiation .
Mr Davies said SA could grow its skills base and create jobs if it could develop its beneficiation industries.
It also emerged that Standard Bank could be the financial service provider of choice for a mooted high- speed railway line between Durban and Johannesburg. The bank's commercial relationship with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was cited as the main reason for its preference as a local finance partner.
ICBC acquired 20% stake in Standard Bank - worth about R36bn - in 2007.
South African companies were paying more attention to China's rapidly growing middle class - a new market for South African exports.
Meanwhile, Mr Zuma said in a lecture to students at Beijing's Renmin University that SA had succeeded in cementing diplomatic relations with China.
He urged China to use its position as the world's second-largest economy to demand greater reform of multilateral institutions to reflect the needs of developing countries.
"The developing world is told that if it does not westernise, and change its political systems to mirror those of the West, they can forget about achieving economic growth and development," he said.
SA is one of the leading proponents for the radical transformation of institutions such as the World Bank, World Trade Organisation, United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund.
SA is trying to join the developing nation bloc Bric - Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Mr Zuma has already visited Brazil, Russia and India to lobby for a role in the group. This would help to raise SA's profile and its political and economic clout.
"We believe the group will take a favourable decision," Mr Zuma said yesterday.
He said there was no African member in the grouping, and that SA's participation in the group would mean an entire continent, with a population of more than 1- billion people would be represented.