China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges fell sharply during the 2015 Chinese stock-market crash.
Chinese equities had risen rapidly from mid-2014 into June 2015, encouraged by retail participation, margin borrowing, and expectations of continued economic growth. The Shanghai Composite reached 5,178.19 on June 12, 2015. It then dropped steeply, losing more than 40% by late August.
The authorities responded with measures including trading halts, restrictions on some share sales, support from state-linked funds, and changes to initial-public-offering procedures. These interventions showed the difficulty of stabilizing a market in which many individual investors were using borrowed money.
The crash affected domestic Chinese markets most directly, although it contributed to worldwide risk aversion and turbulence in other exchanges. It is distinct from China’s later 2015 currency concerns and from the global market sell-off associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.