The oddest things about China's $7.4 trillion stock market

China may be somewhat of a mystery to the majority of international investors who will soon find themselves owning mainland shares for the first time.
The country’s main bourse, opened in Shanghai in the early 1990s, is accessible only through a link with Hong Kong or using either of two licences available to institutions like insurers or pension funds, both of which impose quotas and limitations. There will be a third route come Friday, when anyone tracking MSCI Inc’s indexes will be forced to own a piece of the 234 companies that were picked for inclusion this month.

A gauge tracking Shanghai shares has taken quite a beating in the past six days, closing Wednesday at its lowest level since October 2016. While the bearish sentiment hardly bodes well for China’s big debut, it does mean foreigners are getting in at the cheapest valuations in more than two years. Below are seven things that outsiders might find strange about China’s $7.4 trillion equity market, the second-largest in the world.