New | China’s internet users see dark humour amid stock market rout on first trading day of 2016

China’s online community managed to see some humour yesterday even as stock investors were spooked after a dramatic first trading day of the new year.

A circuit breaker rule, launched just yesterday, cut short investors’ work day after just a few hours, as trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets was suspended amid sharp falls.

Those working at securities firms were mocked for having the “best” jobs – they started their day with a morning meeting at 8.30am and knocked off work at noon as trading closed.

Internet users joked that women employees would be especially popular as wives, as they would have the time to “knit a pair of woollen pants for their husbands at 9.45am, take the empty subway home at 2pm and finish cooking a nice dinner by 5pm”.

“Though we’ve delayed your retirement, at least we’ve allowed you to rest on working days,” one Weibo user wrote, referring to the central government’s decision to postpone the statutory retirement age.

Trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen was suspended for the rest of the day at 1.33pm, after the CSI 300 Index – which tracks stocks of firms with large market capitalisation – fell 7 per cent to 3,470.41, triggering the circuit breaker rule.