Start by reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Malkiel, it covers the ins and outs (and gives you a starting point for more research on anything you don't

Start by reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Malkiel, it covers the ins and outs (and gives you a starting point for more research on anything you don't understand). After that it's on you to read financial news. Knowing that the Chinese market is hyper-inflated, coupled with the knowledge from the Malkiel book about P/E tricks, it's easy to make the connection. edit: I was reflecting on the last line and I want to point out that nothing is "easy" in finance, it takes a lot of hard work to reach a level of competent understanding. More that once you have the toolkit to understand the basic financial shenanigans that have been going on for a century (or more), a lot of seemingly strange behaviors become rational.