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Investors rush in to grab a bull by the horns

By Jia Hepeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-05 09:45

During the morning hours of a day in early February, zealous investors lined up at the Zhongtou Exchange to use the hall's computers to turn their investment potions into stock market magic.

Those who weren't lined up clustered into small intermingling groups to trade tidbits of the latest stock market news.

Many investors, such as 68-year-old Wang Guowen, were silver-haired.

Wang appeared especially confident, because the seafood company retiree relies on the advice of a dependable think tank his daugter. Most mornings, she calls him from the United States with investment advice. If she doesn't, he stays home.

With the Chinese stock market undergoing one of its most bullish booms over the past year, throngs of Chinese have been lured into the risky business. Some put their life savings on the line, but increasingly, they are finding that not all that glitters is gold.

Today, the average Chinese investor's understanding of the stock market which is remarkably different from its Western counterparts is still fairly immature.

The stock market's recent waves have washed away many weaker-minded investors, while helping the innovative develop their own creative ways of investing.

Small investors

"I'm too old to keep up with the ever-changing policies and conditions," Wang admitted. "My daughter worries that things change too quickly, so she analyzes the trends for us on the Internet."

Before last January, the exchange hall was so empty that one of its guards said he felt lonely.

After five years of bearish performance, the Chinese stock market took a turn for the bullish early last year.

Since then, the Shanghai Composite Index the major indicator of the Chinese stock market has risen from a little more than 1,000 points to nearly 3,000.

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