Those capitalist Chinese
The week's news at a glance.
Beijing
The Chinese have caught day-trading fever, sending the Shanghai Stock Exchange into the stratosphere. The first two weeks of January saw trading volumes at $154 billion—more than one-fifth of the volume for all of last year, which was triple that of the year before. “When I go to the beauty salon, even the girls who give me a manicure are talking about stocks!” consultant Shirley Lei told The New York Times. The enthusiasm alarms regulators. Exchange officials warned that the online trading systems might collapse under the volume, while bank officials said they would refuse loans to people who intended to buy stocks.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered