Chapter 1: The Financial Mission

Here, the term "post-00s" refers mainly to those born after 1995, but primarily points to the generation born after 2000.

“Leeks” is a self-deprecating term used by small retail investors in the stock market. Officially, they are known as financial consumers.

Let us begin with the conclusion: in this era of unprecedented global upheaval marked by the ebb and flow of East and West amid the China-US rivalry, the heavy responsibility for the high-quality development of China’s financial sector will, as a matter of course, fall upon the shoulders of the post-00s generation.

The reason this article asserts that the post-00s must bear this responsibility is that the process may be exceedingly long, requiring two or three decades, perhaps even several generations. The ultimate victory of the internationalization of the Renminbi will rest with the post-00s, because only they will fully experience and seize this era.

The post-00s think in ways entirely distinct from their predecessors. They are more open, more inclusive, and above all, more confident—sometimes even self-centered. In their youth, they are bold, daring to break the mold and challenge all conventions. They reform workplace culture and reject extravagant consumption; they do not pursue love, marriage, childbirth, or home ownership. They are neither superstitious nor fearful, they adore “Black Monkeys,” and they believe in forging their own destinies rather than submitting to fate. Their understanding of finance does not permit resigned acceptance of the dollar’s relentless cycles of exploitation; they seek to claim pricing power and discourse over Chinese assets for themselves. They are determined to realize their own Chinese Dream.

For this generation, wholeheartedly dedicating themselves to the historical mission of high-quality development in China's financial sector, their journey begins on September 25, 2024. From this day forward, the post-00s, with their unique ways of thinking and operating, have begun a rapid, forceful, and profound intervention in China’s capital markets. With one foot firmly planted, the next thirty years will become the lifelong struggle and endeavor of their generation. To borrow from their own life lexicon, the coming three decades will be their unpredictable path of immortal cultivation. For they must face the world’s mightiest financial hegemon as adversaries, and for now, the post-00s are but ordinary mortals before this beast. Fortunately, they possess extraordinary talent—true prodigies of the martial world.

From September 24 until the close of trading on October 9, within just seven trading days, the army of new retail investors—mainly post-00s “leeks”—injected a staggering ten trillion yuan into the Chinese stock market at around the 3,000-point mark. They set a new record for trading volume in the history of China’s stock market, inadvertently overloading the trading exchange’s systems and crashing brokers’ mobile apps.

This wave of post-00s leeks surged into the market around the National Day holiday, knowing almost nothing about China’s financial markets, especially the capital markets. Armed only with enthusiasm and the rallying cries of new media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, they marched into the fray in great numbers.

By a curious twist of fate, during the National Day holiday, the blockbuster war film “Volunteers: Battle for Survival,” the second installment of its series, was being screened. Perhaps destiny draws parallels across the span of seventy years, for the backgrounds of these two battles bear remarkable resemblance.

In 1951, the 63rd Army of the 19th Corps, which had been preparing to cross the sea and liberate Taiwan from China’s eastern coast, was hurriedly redeployed to the Korean battlefield. Their first engagement was the defense of Iron Triangle. Under extremely harsh conditions and facing Van Fleet’s overwhelming ammunition supply, the 63rd Army successfully halted the American advance, buying invaluable time for the strategic redeployment of the Volunteer Army.

Today’s post-00s leeks are like the 63rd Army of yesteryear, confronting an American force with superior equipment and a glaring shortage of their own armored resources and experience, now thrust headlong into the battle at the 3,500-point line. This defensive fight unfolds against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s imminent rate cuts, the anticipated large-scale return of US dollars to China, and the full-scale onset of the China-US financial war.

As the National Day holiday drew to a close, the post-00s waited with great anticipation for the reopening of the A-shares market. Yet, little do they know—a far greater storm is brewing…