Farmers turned village community centers into makeshift trading floors. Young workers quit low-paying jobs to play the market full time. Retirees started investment clubs, counseling one another on stock picks.

农民把村里的社区中心变成了临时交易大厅。年轻人辞去低薪工作，以便全职炒股。退休人员组织了投资俱乐部，交流选股心得。

China fell under the spell of the stock market over the last year, as millions of factory owners, university students, wheat growers and other investors jumped at a chance to strike it rich.

去年，中国股市像是着了魔，成百上千万的工厂主、大学生和粮食种植户等投资者投身股市，追赶这个发横财的机会。

“When we eat breakfast, we think of the stock market. When we sleep, we see flashing red and green screens,” said Elizabeth Xu, 37, a customer service supervisor at an electronics company in Shanghai, who invested $2,500 last fall. “This is our new sport.”

“吃早饭的时候，我们想到股市。睡觉的时候，我们眼前会浮现红绿闪烁的显示屏，”37岁的伊丽莎白·徐(Elizabeth Xu)说。她是上海一家电子公司的客户服务主管，去年秋天在股市投资了1.5万元人民币。“这是我们新的竞技活动。”

But with the market stumbling in recent weeks, investors are now engaged in a national game where the risks are increasingly outweighing the rewards.

然而，最近几周，随着市场剧烈震荡，在这场席卷全国投资者的游戏中，风险也日益高于回报。

That reality has prompted reflection among some traders, and it has touched off a wider debate about wealth in a society caught between the proud egalitarianism of its socialist past and the lure of capitalist riches. Some Chinese citizens have taken to social media to question the amount of attention devoted to the market and to criticize what they describe as an unhealthy materialist tendency in society.

这样的现实促使一些股民开始反思，并且引发了关于财富的广泛辩论。一边是对以往社会主义传统中的平均主义的自豪，另一边是资本主义财富的诱惑，而当今中国社会夹在两者之间。一些中国民众在社交媒体上质疑大家把太多精力用在了股市上，批评他们有不健康的物质主义倾向。

“The stock market is all about filling your pockets,” said Zhou Lian, 32, a visual artist in Beijing who wrote a critical post on WeChat, a popular mobile messaging application. “Is that what we want to stand for?”

“炒股无非是想赚大钱，”32岁的北京视觉艺术家周廉（音）在微信上的一篇评论帖里写道。“这是我们想要支持的东西吗？”微信是一个流行的移动即时通讯应用。

A recent opinion article in China Daily, a state-run newspaper, warned, “It is dangerous to play with greed.”

官方刊物《中国日报》最近发表评论文章警告，“贪婪很危险。”

Cheered on by relatives, co-workers and rapturous headlines in the state-run press, ordinary investors in China helped stoke a remarkable rally over the last year. With easy access to loans for trading, individual investors opened more than 38 million stock accounts in the second quarter, compared with nine million in all of 2014.

在亲戚、同事和官方媒体热情的头条的鼓动之下，中国普通投资者在过去的一年里带动股市大幅上扬。由于现在可以方便地配资炒股，今年第二季度中国新开的个人股票账户超过3800万个，而2014全年只有900万个。

The lure of the stock market reflects broader cultural influences. Many people in China prize financial prudence, and the savings rate is among the highest in the world. But many Chinese also believe passionately in the power of luck, and China has a long history of high-stakes betting.

股市的诱惑也反映了更加广泛的文化影响。很多中国人在理财上态度审慎，中国的储蓄率位居世界前列。然而，很多人也由衷地相信运气的力量，中国也素来有“险中求财”的说法。

Gambling is widespread and often considered a social activity; mah-jongg games are common on street corners, and the lottery is a popular pursuit.

赌博在中国很普遍，往往被视为一种社交活动；街头巷尾常可以看到有人在打麻将，彩票也相当流行。

The intense interest in the stock market, in some ways, grew out of those habits. Many investors entered the market with lofty dreams — finally, they would have the money for an exotic vacation, an engagement ring or a new home.

从某些方面而言，人们对股市的浓厚兴趣就源自这种习惯。进入股票市场时，很多投资者怀抱着美好梦想——最后他们能有钱去外国度假，能购买订婚戒指，或拥有一个新家。

Amateur traders turned to numerology, long a fixture of Chinese culture, to pick the best investments. Some purchased prayer beads made especially for investors, hoping to conjure good luck.

业余股民通过命理来挑选股票，而这也是中华文化中的一个长期传统。一些人购买了股民专用念珠，希望能带来好运。

In Shaanxi Province in northern China, rural workers wishing for an early retirement began investing after seeing chatter on social media sites about the “mad cow market,” as it is sometimes called. They were encouraged by reports this spring in The People’s Daily, the flagship paper of the Communist Party, which trumpeted the seemingly never-ending bull market.

在中国北方的陕西省，一些希望尽早退休的农民工看到社交媒体网站上对“疯牛市”的谈论此起彼伏，于是开始炒股。今年春天，党报《人民日报》上的多篇文章鼓吹看似永无止境的牛市，也鼓励了这些股民。

In Nanliu, a small town in Shaanxi, workers set up computers so that they could track stock purchases. “Everyone wants a chance to improve their lives, even if they only get a little piece of meat,” said Zhang Li, a longtime resident who invested several hundred dollars.

在陕西小镇南流，工人装上了电脑，以便能够跟踪股票行情。 “每个人都希望有机会改善生活，即使只赚到一小片肉，”这里的长期居民张利（音）说。他投入了几千元人民币炒股。

But greed has long been viewed as a particularly dangerous quality in Chinese culture.

不过，在中华文化中，贪婪一直被看成是一种特别危险的品性。

The ancient scholar Xunzi, in describing the bad nature of human beings, cited a love of profit as his first piece of evidence, noting its ability to cause chaos and a lack of cooperation. Mencius, another ancient Chinese philosopher, warned against acquiring showy material possessions.

古代学者荀子在谈到人性本恶时，将“好利”列为第一个证据，并指出它会造成争夺，不利于辞让。另一位中国古代思想家孟子则告诫大家不要去追求浮华不实的物质财富。

The early Confucian view, said David Wong, professor of philosophy at Duke University, was that “income, wealth, material possessions and social prestige are necessary only up to the point where they enable one to pursue goods that are of much greater value.”

杜克大学(Duke University)哲学教授黄百锐(David Wong)表示，早期的儒家观点是“只有在能够让人去追求更有价值的事物时，收入、财产、物质财富和社会声望才是必要的。”

“The human tendency to lose focus on that priority,” Mr. Wong said, “is perhaps the primary cause of our loss of connection to and care for each other.”

“人往往会淡忘这个大前提，”黄百锐说，“这也许就是人们对彼此失去体谅和关心的主要原因。”

The financial pain for Chinese households has not been pervasive, since stocks are still not broadly held by families. The major indexes, too, have recovered somewhat in recent days, after the government aggressively moved to prop up stocks.

中国家庭并没有普遍感觉到股市下跌的损失，因为炒股仍然不是普及的家庭投资方式。而且近日来，随着政府积极托市，主要股指也有所反弹。

But the recent volatility has unsettled investors as they grapple with not only the financial toll but also a loss of the day-to-day emotional rush that underpinned the trading culture.

不过，近期的剧烈波动让投资者感到不安。他们承受的不仅是财务上的煎熬，还有市场情绪的日益萎靡，而市场情绪是股市文化的基石。

In some areas, retirees have made a habit of watching the market’s movements together, finding solace in collective cursing and celebration. At a brokerage house in downtown Beijing last week, retirees gathered before large stock boards, playing cards and assessing how much money they had lost in recent weeks.

在一些地区，退休人员习惯一起查看市场的走势，通过集体咒骂或庆祝来寻找慰藉。上周，在北京市区的一家证券营业厅，退休人员聚集在大型交易板前玩牌，估算他们最近几周损失了多少。

One man said he was down about $10,000. “We’ve all lost money,” he said, growing irritated. “Everybody’s pretty much the same.”

一名男性表示，他亏了大概6万元。“我们都赔钱了，”他说，口气越来越气愤。“大家都差不多。”

At another brokerage house, a 70-year-old man who gave only his surname, Wei, said he had lost about $30,000.

在另一家证券营业厅，70岁的魏先生表示，他赔了大概20万。

“My wife blamed me, but is it of any use?” he said. “This is money we could have left to our son. But what else can I do? The damage is done.”

“我老婆怪我，但有用吗？”他反问道。“我们本来打算把这笔钱留给儿子。但我还能做什么？于事无补。”

Mr. Wei had been investing in the market since 2008 but said he was devastated by the recent losses.

魏先生自2008年以来一直炒股，但他表示最近的损失让自己非常痛心。

“I have lots of anger inside me,” he added. “It’s just never easy for us ordinary people to make money.”

“我窝了一肚子火，”他还表示。“我们普通人赚钱从来都不容易。”

Despite the volatility, Lu Wenjie, an analyst at UBS in China, said that many investors were likely to stay in the market.

瑞银(UBS)驻中国的分析师陆文杰表示，尽管股市剧烈波动，但很多投资者很可能仍然会留在市场里。

“They are kind of stuck,” he said. “They are reluctant to record losses, and some of them will even try to add money in the coming weeks and bet on a rally.”

“他们算是被困住了，”他说。“他们不愿承担损失，其中一些人甚至会尝试未来几周加大投资，打赌股市会反弹。”

The turbulence has rattled some traders, especially those unaccustomed to the ups and downs of the market. In China, some doctors have taken to calling it stock market anxiety syndrome.

这种波动让一些股民焦躁不安，特别是那些不习惯股市起伏的人。在中国，一些医生开始将此类现象称为“股市焦虑综合征”。

Academics have warned about the psychological effects of fluctuations in share prices. A study by Taiwanese researchers last year found that falling stock prices correlated with increased hospitalizations for mental health disorders. When a stock index fell for five consecutive days, for instance, hospitalizations increased by 1.6 percent.

学者们就股价波动带来的心理影响提出了警告。台湾的科研人员去年开展的一项研究发现，股价下跌与因为精神健康障碍而入院治疗的病人人数的增加有关联。例如，当股指连续五天下跌时，入院治疗的人数提高了1.6%。

Yan Zhengwei, a Shanghai psychologist, said he had recently seen several patients who told him they were depressed by the market, including a client who lost more than $1.6 million.

闫正伟（音）是上海的一名心理医生。他说最近接待过好几名自称因为股市而心情抑郁的患者，其中一人亏了上千万。

“They say they are fine, but they’re just saying it,” Mr. Yan said. “It’s a lot of money, after all.”

“他们说自己还好，但只是那么说而已，”闫正伟说。“毕竟是好多钱。”

But Mr. Yan said there was a silver lining. Counseling sessions for couples had recently turned remarkably civil, he said, as husbands and wives found a common enemy in the market.

但闫正伟表示，也有好的一面。他说，最近夫妻咨询辅导的氛围变得非常和谐，因为夫妇双方找到了股市这个共同的敌人。

“When a major blow came, they actually stopped blaming each other and both blamed the market,” he said. “It’s like they had both become victims.”

“遭受重创时，他们真的不再责怪对方，而是一起埋怨股市，”他说。“像是双方都变成了受害者。”

Xue Wei, chief psychologist at Linzi Counseling Center in Shanghai, said the popularity of the stock market reflected a deeper insecurity in society. He said that Chinese people were accustomed to having a fixed social status under the Communist system. Now, he said, many people are looking to the stock market to define their worth.

林紫上海心理咨询中心首席心理专家薛伟表示，股市的受欢迎程度反映出了社会上更深层次的不安。他说，过去在共产主义制度下，中国人习惯拥有固定的社会地位。现在，他说，很多人指望股市来确定自己的价值。

“They are very insecure inside,” he said. “They think if they can achieve financial stability in a short period of time, they will feel more secure.”

“他们内心很没有安全感，”他说。“认为如果能在短期内实现财务上的稳定，就会觉得更安全。”

For some investors, the round-the-clock trading has placed a strain on relationships.

对部分投资者来说，不间断的交易节奏让一些关系变得紧张。

At the height of the downturn this month, Wang Xiaoming, a 23-year-old bank attendant, had a dilemma: celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday or try to salvage his portfolio? Mr. Wang, who had invested $2,000, about a fifth of his savings, chose the portfolio. His girlfriend quickly scolded him for “only having numbers on my mind,” he said. After that, he promised to spend less time checking stock market chat forums (he currently belongs to six).

23岁的银行工作人员王晓明（音）投入了2000美元，大约是其积蓄的五分之一。在本月股市下跌最厉害的时候，他进退两难：是给女朋友过生日还是努力挽救投资组合？选择了后者的他说，女朋友很快就骂他“脑子里只有数字”。那之后，他承诺减少查看股市聊天论坛的时间（他目前是六个论坛的成员）。

“It’s hard to find the right balance,” Mr. Wang said.

“很难找到恰当的平衡点，”他说。

Still, Mr. Wang said he thought it was important to gain experience in the market. He began to elaborate on his idea but abruptly excused himself. It was a quarter past nine, he explained, and the markets were opening.

但王晓明说，他认为重要的是从股市获取经验。他开始详细阐述自己的观点，却又突然表示要走了。他解释说，已经九点一刻，要开盘了。