
The Chinese stock market is one of the places that enthusiastically reacts to the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, the symbol of a year. The popularity of “snake-themed stocks” is heating up this year to mark the Year of the Snake, according to state media and other media.
According to a joint report by state-run media Peng Fei Sinmun and Piker Jaekyung and Securities Intelligence on the 2nd, Chinese A-shares (mainland stocks for Koreans listed on the Shenzhen stock market) have been popular during the year-end and New Year holidays.
The most important thing to become a theme stock is the name of the company. In 2022, Hubei Radio and Television, a broadcaster, and Tu Bao Bao, an interior timber company, in 2023, a rabbit year, and in last year’s year of the dragon, Cheng Long Investment & Securities shares once soared 280%, 156%, and 421% respectively. Tu Bao Bao and Cheng Long Investment & Securities include rabbits and dragons in their company names, respectively. Hubei has different Chinese characters, but it is the same as the Chinese pronunciation of tigers.
In East Asian folk beliefs, snakes are especially accepted as symbols of wealth. However, there are not many cases where snakes are included in the company name. For this reason, while the stock market is off during the Lunar New Year holiday, Chinese investors are pouring out creative interpretations of what snake-themed stocks are.
A snake lion is included in the name of Zhao Shengkou, an urban developer in Guangdong Province. Sichuan chemical company Shanfalungmang Mang is classified as a snake-themed stock because it means ‘non-dan snake’. Since Bose Yanjing, which means “doctor’s glasses” in China, investors are relatively naturally reminded of snakes.
Investors who are not satisfied with this alone are attracting legends and stories. Baodasye, a bearing manufacturer in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, became a snake-themed stock because Baodas means “tower.” Investors linked the Ming Dynasty novel “Baeksa is forever trapped in a thunderbolt,” which is about a snake that wants to marry a wishing human being turned into a beautiful woman.
The 1986 animation “Furuwa” is about seven boys defeating a snake monster, so the animation production company is attracting investors’ attention.
Companies that produce snake-related products are also gaining popularity. Investors are also paying attention to SPengwonyu, which is expected to release a snake-shaped toy this year after signing an intellectual property contract with a game developer featuring snakes. Shanghai’s Silen Bio, which makes anti-snake venom serum, is also attracting attention.
“The conflict between pedantry and reason reflects the unique ecosystem of the Chinese stock market,” Pengpai Shimbun and others said. He also warned that the results of these investments were not necessarily good.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL