40 years on

An item from Sept 27, 1986, in China Daily showed people rushing to buy shares in the newly opened stock market in Shanghai, the first of its kind since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

It was seen as a milestone in the country’s reform of finance.

The country’s stock market has come a long way since it first began operations about three decades ago.

In 1990, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges were created. One year later, the Securities Association of China was established and in 1992, the China Securities Regulatory Commission was formed.

The country issued laws to regulate the sales and trade of securities in 1997.

Although severely affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, the country’s stock market has gradually recovered.

To open up its equity markets to overseas investors, the central government rolled out the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2016 as well as a bond-connect program launched in Hong Kong in July last year.

Last year, Morgan Stanley Capital International decided to include about 200 A shares in its emerging-market index in phases, a milestone for financial markets on the Chinese mainland.

In order to further open up the country’s capital market, a highly anticipated program — the Shanghai-London Stock Connect Mechanism — is taking shape as the Securities Regulatory Commission starts to solicit public opinion on detailed rules recently.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said in an announcement released on its official website early this month that domestic bluechip companies listed on the Shanghai bourse will be encouraged to list in London.