For Chinese investors, the grass is almost always greener elsewhere.
The country's stockmarket chronically underperforms,
meaning that local punters look to bourses in, say, America or Japan,
and devise ways of getting cash around China's capital controls.
But this year is different.
The Shanghai composite, an index for mainland stocks, hit a ten-year high on August 25th.
In dollar terms, it is up by 17% since the start of the year, ahead of both America's S&P 500 and global indices.
At the same time, China's economy is suffering from overcapacity,
which has induced a widespread race-to-the-bottom mentality.
The country's great commercial and technological achievements,
such as its electric-vehicle and solar industries,
are among those suffering most from an overabundance of companies competing for the same markets.
Even BYD, China's most successful EV firm, is struggling to pay its suppliers.
Losses at many of the country's biggest solar companies grew in the first six months of the year.
Ordinary folk are feeling the pain, too: China's delivery drivers have been caught in price wars.
The sensational stockmarket performance therefore comes with an uneasy undercurrent.
Since the start of the year the Chinese state has sought to buoy sentiment,
capitalising on accomplishments such as a breakthrough artificial-intelligence model built by DeepSeek, a startup,
and the wild success of "Ne Zha 2", a locally produced animated film.
Another source of positivity has been the state's crackdown on oversupply,