Last week's sharp fall of the US stock market has had a ripple effect on its Asian counterparts. But Chinese A-share markets seemed to hold firm with the Shanghai and Shenzhen share indexes, showing strong performances for a very long time, and only fell by 1.10 and 5.64 points respectively last Friday. Opinions are divided on whether Chinese stock markets can weather the storm.

Dr. Li Rong, a manager with Shanghai Shenyin Wanguo Research & Consulting Co., Ltd. remains positive. In an interview with China Business News, he says the worsening crisis of subprime loans in the US caused the economic downturn in the US and around the world. However, the Chinese stock market is more isolated and will not suffer unduly.

However stockbrokers running private funds and large investments are worried about the future of A-shares. A private fund manager says, "Apparently stock markets are still booming now, but investment traps remain threats to the future of stock markets." He adds that the Chinese A-shares did not fall too much as the US stocks plummeted, since their wings had automatically been curbed by the market when they were booming.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000005/20070730/000000074428.shtml)

(China.org.cn July 30 2007)