Cover Story: A New Gold Rush Begins in China’s Hard Tech Sector

On a quiet Sunday in mid-July, before the new week’s trading bells could ring, China’s financial regulators pulled off a quiet revolution.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange unveiled five regulatory notices and a Q&A on its website, officially launching a sci-tech growth tier — a new section within its tech-heavy Nasdaq-style STAR Market. Thirty-two loss-making tech firms were welcomed as its inaugural cohort. More are expected to follow.