They call China’s stock market a “casino,” yet they are rushing in. They are betting money that the government really does want to finally crawl out of the hole it has dug. They are speculating, looking for short-term gains, with a great degree of uneasiness.

他们把中国的股市称为“赌场”，然而却对其趋之若鹜。他们投入资金，赌的是政府确实终于想让经济走出泥潭，而这个经济困境此前是政府一手创造出来的。他们怀着极为不安的心情投机，寻求短期收益。

A flurry of policies by Beijing in recent weeks meant to stimulate the domestic economy has spurred China’s middle class to invest more in stocks, prompting the country’s biggest rally since 2008.

中国政府在最近几周接二连三地出台了旨在刺激国内经济的政策，激发了中国的中产阶级加大对股市的投资，推动股市出现了2008年以来的最大反弹。

In recent interviews, investors said that doing something, even putting their savings into a market full of risks, gives them a sense of control when their country seems to be going astray. They worry that the government is doing more to prime the market than to help the economy, but for now they are clinging to a familiar, bubbly feeling in an era of deflation.

在最近的采访中，投资者表示，在国家似乎走错道路的时候做点什么，甚至是将积蓄投入一个充满风险的市场，让他们有一种掌控感。虽然他们担心政府的所作所为更多地是刺激市场，而不是对经济增长有所帮助，但在目前的通货紧缩阶段，他们仍不愿放弃一种熟悉的、充满泡沫的感觉。

“We are all ‘garlic chives’ to be harvested by our ruler,” said Wang, a Beijing resident who said he invested more than $150,000. He invoked an online meme that says Chinese people are vegetables waiting to be plucked from the ground. “But if I take the initiative to participate in the market, at least I have some control over my destiny,” he said.

“我们都是‘韭菜’，任由统治者收割，”家住北京的王先生说，他在股市投了100多万元。他用的“韭菜”一词是中国网民们描述老百姓就像这种菜，随时可从地里收割的说法。“但如果我主动参与到股市中去，至少我能控制自己的命运，”他说。

Mr. Wang was one of 10 Chinese investors I interviewed last week, some by video and others by email and text message exchanges. All of them are professionals or business owners. They have money to invest but are not super rich.

王先生是我上周采访的十名中国投资者之一，采访是通过视频通话、电子邮件或短信进行的。他们都是专业人士或企业主。他们有钱投资，但都不是超级富豪。

They all spoke on condition that I use only their surnames for fear of retribution. The government has censored articles and comments critical of its recent measures, which some said is contributing more to the market rally than it will to economic revival.

他们都要求我在文章中不要透露他们的全名，以免遭到报复。政府已审查了批评其近期措施的文章和评论，一些人说，这些措施刺激股市反弹的贡献大于推动经济复苏的贡献。

上海证券交易所的工作人员，摄于1992年。中国在20世纪90年代初恢复了股票交易。

China reinstituted stock trading in the early 1990s — part of the country’s economic reform experiment. Potential investors lined up for hours and sometimes days to get into the game.

中国是在上个世纪90年代初恢复股票交易的，那是中国经济改革试验的一部分。为了开户，想投资的人得排好几个小时有时甚至好几天的队。

Now there are more than 200 million trading accounts in China’s stock market, and virtually all are for individual investors. But less than a quarter of those accounts are actively trading. China’s stock exchanges have not turned out to be wealth-generating venues for the Chinese public, who have largely avoided the market because it was so volatile.

如今，中国股市的交易账户超过两亿个，几乎全部为个人投资者。但只有不到25%的账户是活跃状态。中国的证券交易所已被证明不是为中国老百姓创造财富的地方，由于波动太大，大多数老百姓避开了股市。

Because the stock market was heavily controlled, most of China’s most competitive companies were largely unable or unwilling to be listed in their home country. There was little correlation between the market’s performance and China’s economy. The SSE composite index of companies that trade in Shanghai peaked in 2007, far before China’s economic expansion reached its pinnacle. And it lacked China’s highly successful start-ups like Alibaba, which went public in New York in 2014, and Tencent, which listed its initial public offering in Hong Kong in 2004.

由于中国股市受到政府的严格控制，大多数中国最具竞争力的大企业基本上无法或不愿意在本国上市。中国股市的表现与国内经济几乎没有关联。上海交易所的上证综合指数达到最高点是在2007年，远早于中国经济崛起见顶的时间。而且，上证综合指数不包括中国非常成功的初创企业，如2014年在纽约上市的阿里巴巴和2004年在香港首次公开募股的腾讯。

Instead, people invested in real estate, which makes up about 70 percent of China’s household assets. While their wealth ballooned with rising housing prices, the government, which owns all land in the country, reaped most of the financial benefit. Now that the housing market has crashed, the government is luring people into the stock market.

老百姓主要投资房地产，房地产约占中国家庭资产的70%。虽然人们的财富随着房价上涨不断膨胀，但拥有全国所有土地的政府收获了大部分经济利益。现在房地产市场已经崩溃，政府正在引诱大家进入股市。

The investors I interviewed told me they know the risks they are taking in the market, but they feel they have no choice in a country where the government controls the land, the banks and which companies can list on the stock exchanges.

我采访的投资者告诉我，他们知道投资股市的风险，但他们觉得他们别无选择，因为这个国家的政府控制着土地、银行，以及哪些公司能在证券交易所上市。

北京证券交易所，摄于今年7月。中国股市正在经历始于上个月的反弹。

“It’s even worse than a casino because a casino has rules, while our ‘casino’ has none,” Mr. Wang said. “Furthermore, the ‘owner’ of this casino can step in and play, and they can see our cards.”

“股市甚至比赌场还糟糕，因为赌场有规则，而我们的‘赌场’没有规则，”王先生说。“更有甚者，这个赌场的‘老板’能参与赌博，他们还能看到我们的牌。”

He said he knew the recent rally might be a “trap,” but he felt he had no choice. “This way, I can find a spot closer to the exit, so when it’s time to escape, I can run out faster than others,” Mr. Wang said.

他说，他知道最近的反弹也许是个“圈套”，但他觉得自己别无选择。“这样做，我能找到一个离出口较近的地方，所以当需要逃离时，我能比其他人跑得更快，”王先生说。

Another investor named Wang, from Shanghai, said he put money into Chinese stocks on Sept. 30. He summed up the prevailing sentiment among the people I talked to: People aren’t investing now because they trust, or have been fooled by, the government. “It’s just one bet where they’re willing to accept the outcome, win or lose,” he wrote in an email.

另一名来自上海的投资者也姓王，他在今年9月30日把钱投进了股市。他的说法总结了我采访的人的普遍情绪：大家现在投资不是因为他们信任政府，或者以前被政府骗过。“这只是个他们愿意下的赌注，不管输赢，他们都能接受，”他在一封电子邮件中写道。

A software engineer in Shanghai named An said he lost his job and stock options at an online education start-up after the government cracked down on the industry in 2021. Then an apartment he bought wasn’t getting built. When he and other fellow home buyers protested, he was detained by police.

上海的一名姓安的软件工程师说，政府2021年打击了在线教育行业后，他失去了在一家在线教育初创公司的工作和股票期权。后来，他已经付款的一套房一直没有建成交付。他和其他购房者进行抗议后，他还被警方拘留过。

When the stock rally started in September, Mr. An said, his wife told him, “Let’s take a gamble.” They kept aside some cash for credit card debts and an emergency fund, and they invested the rest of their money, nearly 90 percent of their cash, into the market. That was more than $300,000. They are worried about inflation soaring over the next few years if Beijing does a big spending program.

安先生说，股市今年9月开始上涨时，妻子对他说，“我们来赌一把吧。”他们预留了一些用于偿还信用卡债务的钱和应急资金，把其余的钱（也就是他们手中近90%的现金）都投进了股市，总共投了200多万。他们担心，如果政府推出大规模支出项目，通货膨胀率会在未来几年飙升。

They reasoned that they might lose money either in the stock market or by doing nothing if inflation eroded the value of their savings. But what if they get lucky?

他们的想法是，投资股市可能会亏钱，但什么都不做也可能亏钱，因为如果通货膨胀，他们的银行存款会贬值。但是，如果他们运气好呢？

Another investor I interviewed, Xie, is the founder of a small asset management firm in the eastern province of Shandong. He said he saw the rally as a rare investment opportunity.

我采访的另一名投资者是谢先生，他是山东省一家小型资产管理公司的创始人。他说，他认为股市上涨是一个难得的投资机会。

When Mr. Xie was in elementary school in the 1990s, both of his parents were laid off from their jobs at state-owned companies. They invested their savings in China’s brand-new stock market and experienced a lot of ups and downs. Mr. Xie started trading in college and started managing money for others in 2018.

20世纪90年代，谢先生上小学的时候，他的父母都从国企下岗。他们用积蓄投资了中国新的股市，经历了许多涨跌。谢先生从上大学的时候开始炒股，并从2018年开始为他人管理资金。

He sensed that government policy was shifting in early September and started building his positions in stocks, thinking there should be money to be made. But he was unsettled by the opportunism that has been overflowing on social media, where some claimed that the SSE index, which has been trading just above 3,000, would reach 10,000.

今年9月初，他感觉到政府的政策正在改变，所以开始建仓，认为应该有钱可赚。但他对社交媒体上充斥的股票投机者感到不安，网上有人声称，目前略高于3000点的上证指数将达到1万点。

He thinks the rally will be short-lived. “The financial markets cannot fix the fundamental and long-term issues China faces,” Mr. Xie said, referring to how China has made it increasingly difficult for its citizens to seek wealth and speak freely. He said younger people who are throwing themselves into investing should be more skeptical.

他认为这轮反弹将是短暂的。“金融市场无法解决中国面临的根本性的长期问题，”谢先生说，他指的是政府让老百姓越来越难以获得财富和自由表达。他说，蜂拥入市的年轻人应该对股市持更多的怀疑态度。

Cheng was another investor I interviewed who believes that China is facing far bigger problems than a market rally can fix.

程先生是我采访的另一名投资者，他认为中国面临着更大的问题，远非市场反弹就能解决。

When Mr. Cheng first wrote to me in February, he said he had just lost more than $500,000 in the stock market.

程先生曾在今年2月告诉我，他刚在股市上损失了360万元。

The owner of a corporate consultancy, he found that the country’s business environment turned increasingly hostile to the private sector under Xi Jinping, China’s leader. “I’ve never seen anyone play such a good hand so terribly,” he wrote to me about Mr. Xi that month

作为一名企业咨询公司的老板，他发现，在习近平领导下，中国的商业环境正在变得对民营企业越来越不利。“我从没见过有人把一手好牌打得这么差，”他在当月联系我提到习近平时写道。

In a recent interview, he said that he’s investing in the stock market as if he were playing mahjong.

在最近的这次采访中，他说他投资股市就像打麻将一样。

“I’m approaching this with the mind-set of a spectator. I’ve paid for the ticket,” he said, referring to the money he lost earlier this year. “I might as well watch this tragic movie all the way through.”

“我以旁观者的心态来看待这件事。我已经买了门票，”他说，他指的是他今年早些时候损失的钱。“我不妨把这部悲剧电影从头看到尾。”