Even after the recent stabilization of the Chinese stock market—the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose for the second day in a row, closing at 3,877—the impact of the massive plunge over the last few weeks has caused at least some social fallout.
Most recently in Jiangxi Province, this included a husband murdering his wife, after she used borrowed money to speculate in the stock market. The reports are one of the few news items to emerge in China about the human fallout due to the stock market bubble, and then sudden crash. Other reports, for example about suicides in a number of provinces, were suppressed by the authorities and the media companies investigated.
Mr. Liu, as he was identified in reports, killed his wife on July 8, after an argument. The wife, who was not identified, had reportedly borrowed money from relatives, friends, loan sharks, strangers, and had mortgaged their house to speculate on the market. Mr. Liu said she had already lost 1.8 million yuan (about $289,817). She was attempting to convince him to lend her more money.
The means of killing involved an iron pole and a knife, according to the Chinese news reports.
Mr. Liu said he originally planned to commit suicide after the murder, by dousing the house in gasoline and setting it ablaze, but he changed course after considering the damage it would do to their neighbors’ property.
Mr. Liu’s son was interrogated by the police. His daughter-in-law said, “Now, I am extremely worried about my husband. I don’t know if he can take it. And I don’t know how I am going to tell our child in the future.” The child is 2 years old. Mr. Liu and his wife had been married for more than 30 years.
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