When it comes to resisting powerful forces, the Chinese Communist party has a pretty decent record. In its nine decades of existence, it has overcome civil war, the disaster of collectivisation (admittedly self-imposed), a student-led uprising and, more recently, the 2008 global financial crisis, which barely put a dent in China’s blistering growth. In recent weeks, however, there is one force the government has failed entirely to hold back: the market.

This is not for want of trying. Authorities have tried everything bar passing a law stating that stocks can only go up. With each iteration, their measures have looked more desperate.

They started with tried-and-tested ruses. They cut interest rates in an effort to make holding cash less attractive and reduced reserve requirements so banks would have more money to slosh about. They have sought to talk up the markets, publishing stories in a compliant press about the upside of shares that were already trading on bulging multiples. They have funnelled pension funds into shares, loosened restrictions on margin trading, cut fees and targeted short-sellers.