Where there is shareholder capitalism, there is bound to be shareholder activism: that at least is the assumption in developed stock markets. The fight over the future of China Vanke, the property company, is testing whether that equation computes in mainland China.

Seen from the City or Wall Street, it looks a straightforward enough spat: a big established company, whose shares are widely held, attracts noisy investors such as insurer Baoneng. Faced with a transaction they dislike — in this case, Vanke’s proposed purchase of assets and equity from Shenzhen Metro in exchange for shares — some of these investors get upset and start to push back.

Wang Shi, Vanke’s charismatic chairman, has even lambasted Baoneng as a “barbarian”, echoing the description the late Ted Forstmann used in the 1980s for corporate raiders massing at the gates of traditional companies, giving Bryan Burrough the title for his bestseller about the buyout of RJR Nabisco.