Cover Story: China’s Three-Year Stock Slump Resists Policy Prescriptions for Rebound

Chinese investors began 2023 full of optimism that an economic rebound fueled by resilient export growth, relaxed real estate policies and other regulatory prescriptions would lead to a turnaround for the nation’s bear market in stocks. Instead, China ended the year with the world’s worst-performing equity market and its blue-chip CSI 300 Index down for the third straight year, losing 35% over 36 months.