When Hou Yujie isn’t convincing customers to rent traditional Chinese clothing for photos at the country’s famous Forbidden City, she and her friends are checking stocks.
Hou recently put 10% of her money in the market. In just a few days, she earned one month’s salary — and she’s thrilled.
“Interest rates for bank deposits are so low I don’t even want to bother,” Hou said at her shop outside the Beijing tourist site. “Stocks are a hot topic right now.”
Chinese stocks, once deemed univestable by many, are luring both local and foreign investors impressed by recent returns. The Shanghai Composite hit a decade high earlier this month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is also up 30% in 2025, on pace for its biggest annual advance since 2017 — when it soared nearly 36%.
Shanghai Composite since 2015
Government signals are encouraging investors to jump in.
“There is a change of policy intention because of…
