Which 2015–2016 event saw China’s Shanghai Composite fall sharply after its 2015 bubble?

The event in which China’s Shanghai Composite fell sharply after its 2015 bubble was the 2015–2016 Chinese stock market turbulence.

Chinese shares rose rapidly during the first half of 2015, encouraged by margin borrowing, retail participation, and expectations surrounding economic reforms. The Shanghai Composite reached 5,178.19 on June 12, 2015. Prices then reversed, and forced selling by investors using borrowed money intensified the decline.

The Chinese government and regulators introduced extraordinary measures, including restrictions on some share sales, support for purchases, and investigations into trading activity. Despite those efforts, the Shanghai Composite fell more than 30% in the weeks after its June peak. Renewed volatility appeared in early 2016, when newly introduced circuit breakers were triggered and then abandoned.

This episode is sometimes described simply as a Chinese crash, but the longer label is more precise because turbulence extended from 2015 into 2016. It also differed from China’s 2007–2008 market decline, which followed an earlier stock-market boom.