When the Chinese Communist Party proposes, the masses still dispose. Since a mid-June commentary appeared in the People's Daily, the party's mouthpiece, arguing that to buy shares is glorious and that rising shares will bring "hope and happiness", mainland China's languishing stockmarkets have gone crazy. Turnover on the local-currency A-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which are restricted to Chinese investors, has more than trebled, to a daily $6 billion-8 billion, and prices have soared (see chart on next page). The hard-currency B-share markets, supposedly reserved for foreigners but in fact havens for hot Chinese money, have almost doubled from their all-time lows earlier this year. Despite sharp falls on July 1st, nobody believes that the government will allow a prolonged market slump before October 1st, the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic.
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