From the FT:
On Sunday, the new graduates of Tsinghua University are set to gather in their smartest attire to celebrate degrees from one of China’s most prestigious institutions, a place that has fostered generations of political leaders. Just after the ceremony starts — according to a written agenda — the graduates must “follow the instruction and shout loudly the slogan, ‘revive the A shares, benefit the people; revive the A shares, benefit the people’.”
…“In China, the markets are operated by the state, regulated by the state and legislated by the state, and raise funds for the benefit of the state by selling shares in enterprises owned by the state,” wrote Carl Walter and Fraser Howie in Privatizing China, a look into how Beijing has perverted the market to make stocks serve socialism.
…The near 30 per cent slump in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices — which has wiped some $3tn off the value of all listed companies in three weeks — comes from a collapse in confidence that the Communist party can continue to effectively manipulate the market. It is a sharp indictment of the party’s prestige. Not only has Beijing orchestrated a propaganda blitz over months to drive stock prices higher, it also fostered a surge in margin lending that lured millions of retail investors to leverage up their exposure to a share bubble.
Gold.
