Mainland China’s stock market is opening up. It has attracted considerable interest from foreign investors since its official inception back in 1986. But with the news in late 2002 that they will finally be allowed to trade A-shares and to buy controlling stakes in listed companies, foreign investors have begun to take the market more seriously as an investment proposition.

What kind of market is it, however? Is it large or small? Has it an important role in the economy? Does it reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the economy? Is the stock market improving the efficiency with which capital is allocated in China and is it a popular place for Chinese individuals and institutions to invest? What are the listed companies like – and are they improving? Is the stock market facilitating privatization, or it is simply a crude means of financing what remains of state-owned industry? And after having hit a three-year low in January 2003, what will it take for prices, and the quality of regulation, to improve?

This report attempts to answer these questions by picking apart eight myths that are often propagated about China’s stock market.

Myth #1. China’s stock market has grown extremely large, extremely quickly. It is only reasonable to expect the quality of regulation to be poor given the rapid speed of growth.
Reality #1. China’s stock market is still small, relative both to the size of the economy and to other markets in the region. Its regulatory problems are explained by factors unrelated to its speed of development.

Myth #2. Initial public offerings (IPOs) are now just as important a source of investment capital for listed companies as the banks.
Reality #2. IPOs are still a marginal source of funds for industry. The banks remain dominant.

Myth #3. The stock market allocates capital more efficiently than the banks, especially the state banks.
Reality #3. Barriers on entry mean that the stock market is probably not (yet) much of an improvement on the banks in terms of the efficiency with which it allocates capital.

Myth #4. Restructuring a state-owned enterprise (SOE) into a shareholding firm and listing it improve the firm’s performance. Shareholders, a board of directors and the oversight of the CSRC – all the institutions of an efficient Western corporation – result in the right incentives being created, which in turn leads to better performance.
Reality #4. Although separating ownership from management via the shareholding structure is a good strategy, it has failed to work in practice. Restructuring and listing SOEs introduces new problems into their corporate governance structures. Administrative officials remain involved in running the firm, asset stripping is facilitated and the firm’s soft budget constraint is not hardened.

Myth #5. China’s stock market is dominated by small, individual investors. The high numbers of individuals in the market, normally holding shares for less than one month, explain the high trading turnover and the volatility of share prices.
Reality #5. Individual investors account for only a small proportion of the market. The majority of individual share accounts are empty, disused or have been opened fraudulently by institutional investors.

Myth #6. The market lacks institutional investors. Analysts argue that to mature, many more of them are vital.
Reality #6. Though wise counsel in principle, this market is in fact already dominated by institutional investors. It is just that these fund managers are not formally registered. The key to maturing China’s stock market lies in improving the quality of the companies whose shares are traded and the institutions which govern trading.

Myth #7. The CSRC as well as securities and fund management firms (all of which are stateowned) are ultimately run by the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Listed companies enjoy political protection from their local government. These extensive political controls mean that little improvement in the quality of regulation is likely.
Reality #7. As their policy priorities change, and privatization rises up the agenda, the senior leadership will come under immense pressures to alter the way in which China’s stock market operates. The central government will have an increasingly strong interest in regulatory improvement.

Myth #8. China’s stock market is not a vehicle for privatization. Only a small minority of the shares are sold to the public; the state retains the rest.
Reality #8. While true for most of the 1990s, this claim is rapidly also becoming a myth as the acquisition market for state-owned shares develops. Private firms are now keenly making back-door listings via purchases of shares previously owned by state organs.

Download China's Stock Market: Eight Myths and Some Reasons to be Optimistic

PDF format, 343KB, 24Pages.

Stephen Green
Head of Asia Programme
The Royal Institute of International Affairs

THE CHINA PROJECT
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/ CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

This report is published by the China Project, a research project run jointly by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) at Chatham House in London and the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge University.

China research at the RIIA focuses on the country’s economic reforms, in particular privatization, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financial-sector reform. For more information, please visit our website www.riia.org/asia.

About the Author
Stephen Green is the Head of the Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a First Class Honours degree from Cambridge University.

His book China’s Stockmarket: A Guide to its Progress, Players and Prospects (Profile Books/The Economist) will be published in April 2003.

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