Painful lessons China must learn from the stock market slump
Investors, regulators and policymakers must learn from market slump, or be doomed to repeat it
Whenever there is discussion about the lessons to be learnt from historical mistakes, analysts like to quote the words of Spanish-born American writer George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". That is certainly the view of many commentators concerning the mainland's recent stock market turbulence, even though the dust it has thrown up has yet to settle.
The most important lesson from the stock market crash known as Black Tuesday, which hit Wall Street on October 29, 1929, and sent the United States into the Great Depression, was that financial markets needed strong regulation to survive and thrive.
Most analysts believe the latest Chinese slump has also served as a valuable lesson for investors, regulators and policymakers.
"This is a wake-up call for China," said Zhiqun Zhu, associate professor of Chinese politics and director of the China Institute at Bucknell University in the US.
Laurence Brahm, a Beijing-based political economist, said: "The important thing is that China learns from its experiences and mistakes - and responds to address them."
Steve Tsang, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at Britain's University of Nottingham, agreed, but warned Beijing needed to learn the right lessons from the market's slump.