Trailblazers in reform: Views from a Chinese retail investor

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China established its own capital market about two decades ago. Despite growing pains, the country's investment platform experienced tremendous growth. Wang Wei – a first generation Chinese investor, avid golfer, seasoned investor, teacher and mentor – leads a “slash career” that mirrors the ambition of many current day millennials.

Born in 1955, Wang was the first generation of Chinese high school drop-outs to attend college post the Cultural Revolution. His post-graduate career was smooth. A telecommunications major in college, Wang landed a job at one of the biggest state-owned telecom giants.

Wang Wei, a first generation Chinese investor, avid golfer, seasoned investor, teacher and mentor, speaks with CGTN./CGTN Photo

In 1991, he attended a class to learn about capital markets and investment. Soon after, he decided to “throw away iron bowl career” and started working on an investment project that at the time almost no one understood.

“…I have to thank my wife and my family. They actually supported me. People thought I was crazy to try to be an ‘investor' because they had no idea what ‘investing' was," Wang said.

Just like that, Wang became a member of the first generation of Chinese investors. But that road was not a path for the faint-hearted. Just like all other major capital markets around the world, China's investment platform had her own growing pains. The most recent market rout came in the summer of 2015, when a third of the value of A-shares on the Shanghai stock exchange was lost in less than a month.

Wang spoke of living through that market calamity with aberrant calm. "…The downturn did not come from nowhere. I was unfazed because market troubles like this happened before and it will happen again.”

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“The people who are in real trouble are the ones who don't understand investment and they get dragged into the whole thing hoping to make a quick buck. They did massive margin financing, became greedy. It was never the system's problem. It was always the people's problem," he added.

Wang's passion for investing stems from his strong moral compass and long-held life principles. “…I advocate investing through one's conscience. I'll never compromise my principles for material gains and that's probably the most vital investment lesson I can teach anyone," Wang indicated.

Wang says the biggest challenges facing China's capital market development is to keep the market healthy.

“Just like a person who absorbs nutrients via consuming fresh foods and gets rid of wastes through defecation, our markets need a mature standard delisting process. By getting rid of zombie enterprises, newer and more vibrant companies with promising futures can enter, and bring financial success to our investors,” he explained.

He also thinks it's almost inevitable that China's massive pension funds will soon enter the country's capital market.

"…How do people do pension funds [in the U.S.]? They do it through investment. But of course we have to do it carefully because it's about people's livelihoods. We have to have proper regulations in place," he stressed.

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Looking into the future of China's capital market, Wang had a rather optimistic tone, saying that he has full confidence in the government's determination to further open up and develop China's capital market while safeguarding the country's financial system.

"I fully believe in our policymakers' ability to manage the system. We will open up further and our investors will become more sophisticated. China's future as a financial power is bright. The process will not be finished overnight but our government has the best decision making process to take us there,” Wang said positively.

The tides of reform and opening up in China's economy have laid a foundation for the emergency of China's capital markets. After 20 years of practice, and with the help from people like Mr. Wang Wei, Chinese retail investors have made tremendous progress towards maturity.