As China’s stockmarket corrects, regulators try doing less

THE JOBCSRCCSICSI of China’s top securities cop is a precarious one. Its fortunes are closely linked with the vagaries of the country’s stockmarket. A crash can mean the sack or worse for the man in charge. Xiao Gang, who headed the China Securities Regulatory Commission () during the spectacular boom and bust of 2015, was fired and has become an object of scorn among investors. Liu Shiyu, who took over from Mr Xiao and saw China rank among the world’s worst-performing markets in 2018, later faced corruption charges (which might have been overlooked had the market done better). As China’s 300 index of blue-chip stocks tumbled by 14% in late February and early March this year, attention turned to their successor, Yi Huiman. Having overseen a steady rise in share prices—often called a “healthy bull” market, in contrast to a speculative rally—since he took over in January 2019, Mr Yi has been held in high regard. Between then and early February this year the 300 rose by more than 90%, and reached a 14-year high on February 10th. The unexpected correction that kicked off on February 22nd was the sharpest in years and revived fears of a collapse similar to those in 2007 and 2015. Many of China’s largest stocks, such as Kweichow Moutai, a liquor-maker, shed a quarter of their market value.