During the dramatic rise and fall of China’s stock market this year, one piece of conventional wisdom has gone mostly unquestioned: mom-and-pop investors drive the market.

Stories of dowdy grandmothers and college graduates eagerly speculating in the market form an easily comprehensible narrative that fits neatly with stereotypes of the Chinese as an unruly people — lurching between exuberance and panic — whose investible savings have grown faster than their good judgment.

A close look at available data on who invests in China’s stock market, and how much, tells a different story. While retail investors do make up a large share of overall market participants, their share of overall market value is probably 5 per cent or less, while the vast majority of Chinese households own no stock at all.