The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,017 on November 20, 2006. Since then China’s stock market continued to shoot up, and the stock index tripled within one short year. By October 16, 2007, the Shanghai A-Share Index hit its peak at 6,124. During that period, tens of millions of ordinary Chinese resolutely invested all of their life savings in the stock market, hoping to get a piece of the pie while the stock market rally continued.

The stock market, however has continued to decline ever since, dropping over two thirds of its previous value. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sank another 2.9 percent to 1,929 on September 17, after a 5 percent drop the day before.

The combined market value of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges dropped to 12.64 trillion yuan (approx. US$439 million), suffering a loss of 352 billion yuan (approx. US$51.5 billion) from the previous close. Compared to the combined market value at its peak of 33.62 trillion yuan (approx. US$4.92 trillion), the stock market shrank by 21 trillion yuan (approx. US$3 trillion), suffering a 62.4 percent drop.

Over 5,000 investors participated in this online survey. The result showed that only 23 percent were able to exit the stock market, 11 percent had a low percentage (below 50 percent) of their stock left, 20 percent still had a high percentage (over 50 percent) of stock in hand, and as many as 45 percent held all stock they purchased on hand.

Some analysts pointed out that China’s market is now in an unprecedented bear market which has caused greater damage to investors than never before. The survey showed that during this round of the crash, only 21 percent of investors suffered a loss below 50 percent, and 48 percent of investors suffered a loss of greater than 70 percent.

Among those who took the survey, 47 percent thought that the index will drop to 1,500; 32 percent thought that it will drop to below 1,000, and only 21 percent thought that it will stop falling after it reaches 2,000.