Global investors had the chance to do something completely new last week – put up to $10.5bn into the Shanghai stock market without a special licence.
国际投资者上周开始有机会做一项全新的投资——无需取得专门牌照，就可以直接投资中国上海股市，每日总投资额度为130亿元人民币。
But when opportunity knocked, many decided not to answer. After five days of trading through Stock Connect – a new scheme linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets for the first time – just $4.3bn had been sent into China.
然而，当机会到来的时候，许多人却不肯出手。在沪港通启动5天后，仅有43亿美元资金通过该机制流入中国内地。

In the other direction, Chinese investors showed almost no enthusiasm for buying Hong Kong-listed shares. On Friday, mainland buyers used less than 2 per cent of their daily Rmb10.5bn ($1.7bn) quota.
反过来，内地投资者对购买在香港上市的股票更是显得毫无热情。港股通每日投资限额为105亿元人民币（合17亿美元），但上周五只使用了不到2%。
In his blog, Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong stock exchange, said he was “obviously a bit disappointed” with the weak volumes so soon after launch, but urged investors to look beyond the immediate horizon.
香港交易所行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)在自己的博客上写道，沪港通甫一推出成交就如此冷清，的确让他“略感失望”，但他敦促投资者把眼光放得长远一些。
Analysts have also been quick to highlight the broader significance of the cross-border link, saying teething problems need not indicate a project doomed to fail.
分析人士也纷纷强调这项跨境连通机制在更广泛层面的意义，表示起步时期出现问题不表明整个项目注定会失败。
By allowing global investors – including hedge funds – free and ready access to one of the world’s largest equity markets, China has taken a step to integrating domestic shares into the global trading system.
沪港通允许包括对冲基金在内的全球投资者自由、方便地进入全球最大的股票市场之一，标志着中国朝着将国内股票市场融入全球交易体系迈出了一步。
“Everyone was keen to get day one out of the way smoothly. Now the focus moves on to how to develop it,” says Jessica Morrison, head of market structure at Deutsche Bank in Asia.
“每个人之前都希望第一天起就顺顺利利的，现在则把注意力转向今后如何发展，”德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)亚洲区市场结构主管杰茜卡•莫里森(Jessica Morrison)表示。
Many long-only funds have been slow to join so far. The tax rates due on investments made through the scheme were only clarified on the Friday before the system went live, leaving many fund managers unprepared at launch.
许多采取多头策略的基金到目前还没有进入沪港通。相关税率在项目启动前的那个周五才明确下来，这让许多基金经理对沪港通启动没有做好准备。
Various other regulatory and legal issues have yet to be resolved, which has limited early participation from some institutional investors. How those problems are overcome will help determine the speed at which new investor demand comes online.
在监管和法规方面，也还有许多问题尚未得到解决，这也限制了一些机构投资者在早期参与交易。如何克服这些问题，将部分决定新投资需求多快能出现。
Expectations of frantic early trading may also have been based on misplaced assumptions that investors would pour through the connect to exploit price gaps between dual-listed stocks.
对早期交易火爆的预期可能还建立在一种错误的假设上，即认为投资者会向沪港通倾注大量资金，利用在两地上市的股票的差价谋利。
When Stock Connect was announced in April, Shanghai shares traded at a discount to their Hong Kong peers, offering the potential for arbitrage for those with access to both markets. However, by the time of launch, domestic stocks were trading at a premium, which may have dulled any sense of urgency.
今年4月建立沪港通机制的消息刚出来时，两地上市公司的A股价格低于港股价格，为可以进入两地股市的投资者提供了套利的可能。然而，到沪港通正式启动时，此类公司的A股价格已高于港股价格，这可能也降低了投资的冲动。
One question is whether index providers – such as MSCI and FTSE – see the Stock Connect as a sufficient step forward in market access terms to add Shanghai shares to global benchmark indices. Any move that way would prompt fund managers tracking those indices to allocate billions of dollars of fresh investment into China – something only possible through the connect.
眼下的一个问题是，各大股市指数提供商——包括摩根士丹利资本国际(MSCI)和富时集团(FTSE)等——是否认为，沪港通是中国股市在市场准入方面的一大进步，使得它们可以将A股纳入全球基准指数。只要它们这样做，就将促使追踪这些指数的基金管理公司将大量新资金配置到中国市场——目前唯有借道沪港通才能做到这一点。
“As bridge builders, our biggest concern is that the bridge is built, it is safe and sound, and it is ready for traffic,” wrote Mr Li on his blog. “As people become more familiar with it and have more reasons to cross, traffic will inevitably increase. Overall, this is a long-term scheme and we shouldn’t get too hung up on the initial numbers.”
“作为桥梁的建造者，我们最关心的是，桥建好了，它是安全可靠的，它可以通行了，”李小加在他的博客中写道，“随着人们越来越熟悉它，有了更多的理由去过桥，客流量必然就会增加。总体上看，这是一项长期机制，我们不应太过关注最初的流量。”
Yesterday offered a taste of why the Stock Connect could yet prove a vital new channel for investors. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China cut benchmark interest rates for the first time since 2012. The market reaction was a surge in Chinese stocks, with the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite markets both rising almost 2 per cent, while mainland shares in Hong Kong – as measured by the Hang Seng China Enterprises index – rallied 3.8 per cent.
昨日，沪港通展示了它有望成为一条重要的新投资通道的潜力。上周五，中国央行(PBoC)自2012年来首次下调基准利率。股市应声大涨，恒生指数(Hang Seng)和上证综指(Shanghai Composite)涨幅均接近2%，而在港上市的内地企业——恒生中国企业指数(Hang Seng China Enterprises Index)——上涨了3.8%。
The move saw activity through the Stock Connect leap from Friday’s relative quiet, with Rmb6bn going north into China, the most since day one. But southbound trade withered – with less than $10m of orders in the morning session. China’s retail investors – who dominate domestic share trading – were probably focused on the soaring Shanghai market, where some property, insurance and brokerage stocks saw double-digit gains following the rate cut.
不同于上周五的冷清，周一经由沪港通渠道的投资活动大为升温，流入内地的资金达60亿元人民币。但南下购买港股的交易清淡，早盘订单额不足1000万美元。作为中国内地股市的主力军，散户投资者可能关注沪市的大涨行情——地产、保险和券商股在降息后涨幅都达到两位数。
The big difference this time round was that global investors were also able to tag along for the ride thanks to the Shanghai-Hong Kong “through train”.
这次行情的很大不同在于，鉴于沪港“直通车”的开通，国际投资者现在也能顺势从A股大涨中获益。