2026 Boao Asia Forum | Dialogue with Zhang Xiaoyan: China's capital market resilience remains, investors need to stay true to their "original intention"

Ask AI · Why can consumption upgrading enhance the resilience of capital markets?

On March 27, Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference entered its closing day. During a parallel session themed “Creating a favorable market environment and advocating long-term value investing,” Zhang Xiaoyan, deputy dean of the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, was interviewed by Beijing Business Today, sharing her observations and thoughts on topics including the impact of artificial intelligence on ordinary investors, the development of intelligent investment advisers, investor protection, market confidence, and long-term investment philosophy.

Facing a market environment in which geopolitical conflicts around the world are intensifying and external uncertainty is increasing, Zhang Xiaoyan said that the recent volatility in the A-share market is a normal transmission effect across global capital markets, and investors need not panic excessively. In guiding rational investing, Zhang Xiaoyan emphasized that investors’ core ability lies in clear self-awareness—“one’s true heart,” which no technical tool can replace.

Intelligent investment advisers are evolving toward “AI agents”

At present, artificial intelligence—especially large language models—is deeply embedding itself into the financial sector. Zhang Xiaoyan pointed out that the primary value of AI for ordinary investors lies in information gathering and providing recommendations. China has a large number of individual investors, but overall financial literacy varies widely. Large language models can help users quickly obtain information, understand basic market concepts, and, to a certain extent, avoid common pitfalls. In addition, AI can also provide personalized services, and even to a certain extent offer emotional support, helping investors maintain a relatively rational mindset when they are losing money.

However, Zhang Xiaoyan also said that AI is not all-powerful, and there are risks that must not be ignored. The essence of large language models is to generate answers based on language probabilities; while the content they output may hold logically, it may not align with facts—what is known as the “AI hallucination” problem. In investment decision-making, such hallucinations may lead to misleading advice. Therefore, Zhang Xiaoyan reminds ordinary investors that when using large models, they must remain prudent and prioritize platforms with high-quality outputs and regulatory compliance, rather than blindly trusting all AI tools.

“Intelligent investment advisers in China have nearly a decade of history, evolving from information gathering and personalized recommendations to today’s upgrade toward dialogue-based interaction based on large language models.” Zhang Xiaoyan further discussed. Currently, many mainstream platforms have launched intelligent investment assistants that can communicate naturally with users and provide reminders and suggestions when users’ emotions fluctuate or their behavior deviates from optimal choices. Zhang Xiaoyan believes that this represents an important direction for progress.

Looking ahead, Zhang Xiaoyan predicts that the development trend of intelligent investment advisers will move toward “AI agents.” At present, several major technology companies are exploring in this field, but no mature successful cases have emerged yet—worth ongoing attention.

The final say in technology rests with people. In a context where AI is increasingly penetrating the wealth management industry, what abilities do ordinary investors truly have that AI cannot replace? Zhang Xiaoyan’s answer is “self-awareness.” No matter how advanced AI is, it is always a tool. Investors should embrace technology, but more importantly, they should keep hold of their “true heart,” be clear about who they are and what they want, so that on that basis they can use tools to improve decision quality while also avoiding the tool’s inherent limitations.

A-share market volatility is not worth panic

The year the “15th Five-Year Plan” gets underway is one in which China’s economy forges ahead. The 2026 Government Work Report sets this year’s main development targets at 4.5%–5% economic growth, and in actual work will strive to achieve better results. In terms of policy orientation, it will adhere to making progress while ensuring stability and improving quality and efficiency, leverage the integrated effects of both stock policies and incremental policies, increase efforts in counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, and effectively enhance the efficacy of macroeconomic governance.

Zhang Xiaoyan pointed out that at present the world is full of uncertainty, while China is in a critical phase of transition; a clear path to solve this situation has been laid out in the “15th Five-Year Plan,” namely consumption upgrading.

“National subsidy” policies have had a very effective driving effect on consumption. Zhang Xiaoyan emphasized that consumption occupies a core position in the “15th Five-Year Plan” because it plays multiple roles. On one hand, consumption provides funding support for innovation in industries in the next stage; on the other hand, against the backdrop of a turbulent external environment, consumption upgrading can genuinely enhance people’s sense of gain, thereby becoming an important cornerstone for stabilizing capital markets and stabilizing social expectations.

Zhang Xiaoyan also expressed confidence in the A-share market. She noted that as China is part of the global capital markets, it is destined not to be able to completely isolate external shocks; recent fluctuations are normal, and this kind of volatility is not worth panic.

“China’s economic growth over the past several decades has been an important engine of global growth, and this underlying reality has not changed.” Zhang Xiaoyan said. What is worth noting is that the “15th Five-Year Plan” clearly emphasizes doing a solid job in building a domestic-based economic “dual circulation” and actively integrating into international markets—this is China’s solution for dealing with global uncertainty.

Investing requires the most patience

When discussing investor protection, Zhang Xiaoyan pointed out that while institutional building and judicial safeguards are certainly important, the most fundamental protection comes from investors’ own knowledge and independence. “Real rational investing is not about rushing to make repairs only after an account shows losses; rather, it is about having already established a clear cognitive framework and independent judgment capability before entering the market. Only when investors have sufficient knowledge reserves and a clear self-positioning can they fundamentally resist interference and misinformation from external information.”

Looking back at the development history of investor education in China, Zhang Xiaoyan said that the first step is to help investors realize that “the long-term return on stocks is higher than that of bonds.” The second step is to help investors understand that the actual performance of China’s capital markets is not as pessimistic as commonly perceived. Over the past 20 years, large-cap broad-based index funds represented by the CSI 300 have an annualized return of more than 6% when considering reinvestment of dividends, and they also have the function of dispersing risk. In recent years, Chinese investors have gradually shifted from investing in individual stocks to more tool-like products such as ETFs, reflecting that investors are increasingly accepting more rational and more diversified ways of investing.

Against the backdrop of the uncertainty that has been particularly prominent in the market this year, Zhang Xiaoyan emphasized that investors need to seek a balance between returns and stability, and the foundation for this balance is clear self-awareness of one’s own risk preferences. “Patience is one of the most scarce qualities in investing, and patience needs discipline to support it. A large number of studies show that frequent trading and constant quick entry and exit will definitely lead to losses.”

Zhang Xiaoyan advised that before each individual investor enters the capital market, they should first conduct a “fitness check” for themselves: clearly define their age, income situation, investment objectives, and short-term and long-term capital plans. Only by clearly understanding one’s own risk preferences can one make judgments among the many tools and recommendations that align with one’s needs.

Beijing Business Today reporter: Dong Hanxuan