如何投资中国股票

When Tsingtao Brewery listed in Hong Kong, its float was notable for two things: it was the first-ever H-share listing and its executives skipped the usual champagne to celebrate instead with their own brand beer.

当青岛啤酒(Tsingtao Brewery)在香港上市的时候，有两点引人注目：一个是它是有史以来发行的第一只H股，另一个是其高管们没有像通常那样打开香槟庆祝，而且开启了他们自己品牌的啤酒。

H-shares were the first offshore listings for companies incorporated in China and they turn 25 next year. Since then they have been joined by a universe of A-shares, B-shares, Red chips, P-chips, S-chips and N-shares. Indices that cover China are equally varied in their form and coverage. This presents a problem for investors looking at the world’s second-biggest equity market: where to start?

H股是指那些在中国内地注册、首先在海外上市的公司，明年是H股诞生25周年。自那以来，还出现了A股、B股、红筹股、民企股、S股和N股。涵盖中国市场的指数同样形式多样，涵盖面各有不同。这让寻求投资这个全球第二大股市的投资者感到头疼：从哪里下手呢？

How people choose to measure or benchmark a market is always subjective. Big markets can happily host indices tracking different universes. New York, for example, is home to the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the broad S&P 500 as well as the outdated but ever-present Dow Jones Industrial Average. But in China’s case, those differences are even more extreme because of the share class issues.

人们如何选择衡量一个市场或者为其确立市场基准始终带有主观性。大型市场能够轻松地成为追踪不同领域的指数的所在地。例如，纽约有科技股云集的纳斯达克综合指数(Nasdaq Composite)、覆盖广泛的标普500指数(S&P 500)以及过时但一直存在的道琼斯工业平均指数(Dow Jones Industrial Average)。但就中国来说，由于股票类别问题，那些差异表现得更为极端。

China’s habit of gradual experimentation with capital markets means there is not a single benchmark that can be used as a form of shorthand for the country’s overall listed universe as there is for New York with the S&P 500, Tokyo’s Topix or London’s FTSE 350. Follow MSCI’s China index, which includes H-shares and N-shares, and an investor is 37 per cent to the good this year. Track the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, the home of H-shares, and that gain shrinks to 17 per cent. Follow the CSI 300, covering the top 300 A-shares, and an investor is up 13 per cent.

中国习惯于在资本市场上渐进试验，这意味着不会有可以代表中国整体上市公司的单一基准指数，比如纽约的标普500指数、东京的东证股价指数(Topix)或者伦敦的富时350指数(FTSE 350)那样。追踪包含H股和N股的MSCI明晟中国指数(MSCI China index)，投资者今年有37%的盈利。追踪恒生中国企业指数（Hang Seng China Enterprises Index，即H股指数），收益缩水至17%。追踪覆盖规模最大的300家A股的沪深300指数(CSI 300 index)，投资者盈利13%。

Call it an equity market, or markets, with Chinese characteristics. A-shares are mainland-listed stocks quoted in renminbi. B-shares are a now almost extinct group of mainland stocks that were quoted in US or Hong Kong dollars and could be traded by foreigners as well as mainlanders. Red chips are Chinese state-owned enterprises listed in Hong Kong, quoted in Hong Kong dollars and incorporated outside China, giving them more freedom over their capital-raising than H-share companies which require official state approval to borrow or raise equity. ICBC and its Big Four bank peers are dual-listed H- and A-shares, but many fellow SoEs including China Mobile, PetroChina and Citic are red chips. P-chips such as Tencent are the private equivalent of red chips. S-chips are Chinese stocks listed in Singapore while N-shares are those listed in New York such as Alibaba — otherwise known, like other foreign listings, as American depositary receipts.

可以将其称为具有中国特色的股市或者市场。A股是指在中国内地上市、以人民币计价的股票，现在几乎所剩无几的B股是指在中国内地上市、以美元或港币计价的股票，外国人和内地人都可以买卖这些股票。红筹股是指在香港上市、以港币计价且在境外注册的中国国有企业股票。与借贷或发股需要官方批准的H股相比，红筹股有更大的融资自由度。中国工商银行(ICBC)等四大行同时发行了H股和A股股票，但包括中国移动(China Mobile)、中石油(PetroChina)和中信(Citic)在内的许多国企是红筹股。腾讯(Tencent)等民企股除民企身份以外，其余特征与红筹股相同。S股是在新加坡上市的中资股，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)等N股是在纽约上市的中资股，又称为美国存托凭证(ADR)，代表在美国上市的外资公司。

In theory, the class distinctions shouldn’t matter for investors beyond what the various categories allow companies to do. But the divergence between the most widely followed indices show that this is not yet the case. Changes to indices happen only slowly, too. Last week Hang Seng Indexes, the benchmarker for Hong Kong-listed stocks, confirmed it would begin to add red chips to its H-share China Enterprises Index, which is considered the China benchmark for the Hong Kong market. The changes, adding 10 stocks to the 40 strong index, will not be completed until March 2019. In June, MSCI said that A-shares would be included in its benchmark Emerging Markets Index as of next year. The weighting of 0.73 per cent is small but it was a milestone that gave mainland stock markets their first international stamp of approval by in theory forcing the $1.5tn of funds that track the index to consider onshore stocks.

理论上，除了公司所属不同类别所允许的行为不同，不同类别股票的差异不应对投资者有影响。但投资者最普遍追踪的几种股指之间的表现差异表明事实并非如此。股指成分股的变动也非常缓慢。上周，香港上市股票的基准恒生指数(Hang Seng Index)证实，将开始把红筹股纳入其中国企业指数，后者被视为香港股市上中资股的基准。这一变动将把10只股票纳入一个由40多只成份股组成的指数，要等到2019年3月才完成。今年6月，MSCI明晟表示，明年将把中国内地A股纳入其基准新兴市场指数(Emerging Markets Index)。0.73%的权重很小，但这是一个里程碑，标志着中国内地股市首次获得国际认可，从理论上来说，这将迫使追踪该指数的1.5万亿美元资金将中国A股纳入自己的考虑。

Scepticism about the quality of many Chinese companies remains high but interest in China is growing. As well as the efforts of index providers to capture China in investor-friendly ways, banks are scrambling to come up with bite-sized forms such as themed baskets of stocks with which to tempt investors. Tech and consumer-related stocks are hot, manufacturers and banks less so.

市场仍严重怀疑很多中国内地企业的质量，但对中国的兴趣正在升温。与指数供应商努力以对投资者有利的方式反映中国市场一样，银行正争相推出容易入手的产品吸引投资者，例如主题股票篮子。科技和消费类股票火爆，而制造商和银行则不那么受欢迎。

Back when Tsingtao listed in 1993, China-related deals — which was as far as China themes went then — were new and intriguing. Its offering was 110 times subscribed and it jumped 28 per cent on its debut. Enthusiasm for Chinese companies soon faded in a wax-and-wane pattern that has repeated itself many times since, but because of the different share classes, it happens in different places at different times. The hunt for a genuine China benchmark continues.

1993年青岛啤酒上市时，与中国内地相关的交易（这就是当时的中国主题了）新鲜且有趣。当时该公司的股票获得110倍认购，上市首日股价大涨28%。对中国内地企业的热情很快消退，此后多次出现这种大起大落，但由于不同的股票类别，发生的时间和地点有所不同。人们仍在寻找一个真正的中国市场基准。