China's stock market is a high-stakes game of 'chicken' and most investors are stuck in the middle

Watching the high-stakes melodrama that has unfolded in the Chinese stock market over the past month is a bit like watching a giant game of chicken. On one side there are the individual investors, who are in the midst of what may be the greatest wave of panic-driven selling we’ve witnessed since Black Tuesday, when billions of dollars were lost in a single day of trading on the New York stock exchange. On the other side: the Chinese government. Worryingly, there’s some evidence that the rest...