China's crackdown on private education companies took market participants by surprise.
Some, because the party leadership's obvious efforts to make it clear who's in charge of business are now going beyond technology companies.
The others because, unexpectedly, an entire industry suddenly no longer belongs to the “profit-oriented sphere”, as it is called in the reform-socialist style.
The third because they thought the campaign was over.
In any case, it has unsettled investors. No wonder if you play it safe and problems like the latent conflict with the USA come to fruition again. If a large real estate company then also seems to be in trouble, the mélange from which course corrections are made is perfect.
The question that investors in China have to ask is to what extent the current price of the CP has not become a risk that is difficult to calculate. As in the West, the relationship between state and economy is currently being redefined there - but “more state” can mean something completely different in reform socialism than in Europe. It is often pointed out that the leadership is technocratic and pragmatic and that the change has so far been very successful. But that's the past. And ultimately there are also politicians in the Chinese political bureau who are more concerned with power than with stock prices.