In the post-financial crisis era, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq have more than doubled, with the Nasdaq reaching a new high and the Dow just one step away from its all-time high.

In contrast, China's A-shares fell below the lowest point in 2002, and its Chinese characteristics can't help but make people sigh.

Investors look at the index, and financiers talk about market value.

Contrary to the steady decline of the stock market index, the amount of financing in the Chinese stock market and the number of listed companies have continued to lead in the past few years.

One of the fundamental differences between the Chinese and American stock markets: The main driving force of the U.S. stock market is investors, while the main driving force of the Chinese stock market is financiers.

From another perspective, look at the annual reports of the chairman of the China and the United States Securities Regulatory Commission: the performance of the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission must include the amount of annual financing, while the responsibilities of the chairman of the US Securities Regulatory Commission are two sentences on the homepage of the website: market integrity and investor protection.

The second difference between the Chinese and American stock markets is the different delisting mechanisms.

Not long ago, Wuxi Suntech, a leading company in the global photovoltaic industry, received a delisting notice on the grounds that the stock price was overdue below $1.

It is said that the U.S. stock market discriminates against Chinese companies, but this is not the case. The U.S. programmed delisting notice is automatically issued by the computer system. The programmed delisting mechanism has several standards. As long as more than one of them is triggered at the same time, the computer will automatically issue an instruction. No one is allowed to

amend record.

Of course, regulatory agencies also have independent administrative powers outside of computer systems. For example, for New Highlands, a company listed on Nasdaq, the delisting order is the administrative decision of the US regulatory agencies.

Administrative orders are not random decisions. Usually, after the regulatory agency discovers that the listed company has suspected illegal conduct, it will first notify the company in writing and request explanations or evidence.

If the company refuses or fails to provide information within the time limit, the regulatory agency has the right to issue an administrative delisting order, followed by an investigation or direct legal action.

China’s delisting mechanism has yet to see programmed delisting.

The third difference is their different origins.

The starting point of Wall Street in the United States is the famous "Sycamore Agreement". On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers promised under the sycamore tree in front of No. 68 Wall Street to enjoy each other's priority trading rights and abide by a unified minimum commission standard.

This is the predecessor of the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was a government agency established by law after the passage of the Securities Act in 1933.

Therefore, the U.S. stock market is built from the bottom up, with market first and business second, and business first and meeting second.

On the contrary, China's stock market was built from the top down and was born with the "policy market" birthmark.

The fourth most essential difference is the relationship with the government: the Chinese government uses the stock market, and the U.S. stock market uses the government.

Today's customary saying in China of "using the stock market" is the remnant of "using the stock market to help state-owned enterprises out of difficulties" back then.

When the U.S. market is booming, securities firms are always lobbying the government to relax regulations and expand financial resources. When there is a crisis, government officials are duty-bound to rescue the market. Just like the title of Paulson's autobiography after leaving office, "The Edge of the Cliff: Saving World Finance."

In order to reduce resistance, China's stock market reformers were advocated to accept the policy system of split shareholding + state-owned enterprise relief, so that the stock market could become a tool for the government to finance state-owned enterprises.

In the era of "rescuing state-owned enterprises from difficulties", stock market financing was the prerogative of state-owned enterprises. It was not until the small and medium-sized board and the GEM were opened that private enterprises could legally take a share of the stock market financing.

Although this is progress in theory, in practice it has further strengthened the over-financing of China's stock market.

Therefore, behind the falling stock indexes is the rising demand for financing.

Where does the tradition of using the stock market to get out of trouble come from? The originator should be the British government.

In December 1719, the South Sea Company proposed to the British government to exchange its own stocks for 31.6 million pounds worth of national debt and pay an additional 7.6 million pounds to the British government.

This plan immediately won the support of Finance Minister Esrabi.

The main shareholders of the South China Sea Company are government officials. The British Prime Minister has also served as the chairman of the company's board of directors, and has British monopoly rights in South America and other places.

On the surface, the "South China Sea Proposal" is a win-win choice: the British government can reduce its debt burden, the South China Sea Company can expand financing to develop gold mines, and treasury bond holders can share in the future growth of the South China Sea Company by exchanging debt for shares.

As a result, the stock price soared, from less than 130 pounds to more than 1,000 pounds in a few months. Newton, the great scientist who was the director of the Royal Mint at the time, also bought stocks when the stock price was high.

Since then, Nanhai Company has issued new shares eight times in a row, making shareholders a huge fortune and lobbying Congress to pass the famous "Bubble Act." When other companies failed to raise funds and went to South America to dig for gold mines, they found that Nanhai Company not only had no gold mines, but also had no trading income.

Long gone.

Nanhai Company shot itself in the foot. The news spread and the stock plummeted.

In the next 100 years, the United Kingdom did not issue a single stock. The Yorkshireman who was good at stock trading traveled across the ocean to the United States, and in a sense became the American Wall Street.

The story of the South Sea Bubble illustrates: If a country’s government does not respect the capital market, capital will abandon it; if the capital market lacks institutional integrity, the irrational madness of the people will make the market die.

As Newton said after his huge loss: "I can calculate the movement of the planet, but I cannot predict the madness of mankind.