This Day, That Year

Item from Sept 27, 1986, in China Daily: A rush is on in Shanghai to buy stocks on the newly-opened stock market, the first of its kind since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

“This is a step further in the reform of finance,” Li Xiangrui, director of the People’s Bank of China Shanghai branch, said.

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 released security 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 mar- kets to overseas investors, the central government rolled out the ShanghaiHong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and the ShenzhenHong Kong Stock Connect in 2016 as well as a bond-connect program launched in Hong Kong in July.

In June, 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.