Which 2015 Chinese stock-market crash followed a rapid rise in Shanghai Composite prices?

The 2015–2016 Chinese stock market turbulence followed a rapid rise in Shanghai Composite prices.

The Shanghai Composite Index more than doubled from mid-2014 to its peak on June 12, 2015. The rise was supported by margin lending, retail participation, and optimism about Chinese economic reforms. After the peak, share prices fell sharply, and the government introduced measures intended to stabilize markets.

The turbulence continued into early 2016. On January 4 and January 7, 2016, newly introduced circuit-breaker mechanisms were triggered, and the system was suspended after the second episode. Authorities later abandoned the mechanism because it appeared to intensify selling rather than calm investors.

The episode is sometimes described as a single crash, but it was a prolonged period of market volatility. It also differed from China’s 2015 currency devaluation and from the global COVID-19 crash in 2020. The Shanghai Composite’s peak and subsequent decline made the episode a major example of modern retail-driven speculation and policy intervention.