Short selling, scourge of banks, sovereigns and the Church, is coming to China. Chinese market regulators chose this weekend to unveil plans for a trial introduction of margin trading and short selling of securities.

At first blush this seems counter to prevailing fashion. The developed world has responded to financial meltdown by imposing (temporary) bans on short selling. The Chinese market has suffered worse, losing two-thirds of its value this year, without any short selling. Surely, granting entry to short sellers now would make mincemeat of the $1,800bn domestic currency “A” share market? Beijing is too savvy – and interventionist – to allow that to happen. First, rules drafted in 2006 are couched around with enough caveats to ensure only the most determined short sellers make it through the net. Stock can only be borrowed from a small clutch of brokers, not renowned for holding huge quantities of shares. Not all shares can be shorted.