After 33 years of surviving on the fringes of the Shanghai Stock Exchange through a dozen name changes and industry pivots, the 'undying phoenix' of China’s A-share market has finally been grounded. On May 22, 2026, the Shanghai Stock Exchange ordered the delisting of *ST Rock, marking the end of one of the most cynical and resilient shell-trading sagas in the history of Chinese finance. This departure signals more than just the end of a single firm; it represents the closing of a loophole-riddled chapter in China's capital markets.
The downfall of stock code 600696 is not merely a story of business failure, but a testament to the tightening noose of Chinese regulators. Under the newest delisting rules, the company’s 'shell-keeping' tactics—which previously relied on asset disposals, temporary restructurings, and trend-chasing—were no longer enough to mask a hollowed-out core. With 2025 revenues plummeting 86% to just 39 million yuan, the firm triggered rigid financial, audit, and market-cap thresholds that left its management with no remaining room for maneuver.
Tracing the company's history is like reading a manual on the evolution of Chinese speculative bubbles. Debuting in 1993 as a ceramics manufacturer, it pivoted to real estate during the 2000s property boom, and then notoriously rebranded as 'PituPi' (a play on P2P) in 2015 to ride the peer-to-peer lending craze. The latter move resulted in a record 3.47 billion yuan fine for its then-controller, Xian Yan, cementing the stock's reputation as a 'demon stock' driven by pure hype rather than industrial output.
Its final transformation into a 'premium' baijiu producer, trading as 'Shanghai Guijiu,' was equally opportunistic but ultimately fatal. Unlike traditional distillers that invest in decades of fermentation and branding, the company relied on aggressive marketing and outsourced production. When its parent conglomerate, the Haiyin Group, faced a liquidity crisis and its actual controller was detained, the house of cards collapsed. A stinging trademark defeat in late 2025 further stripped the firm of its brand identity, leading to a desperate, last-minute name change that could not prevent its inevitable exit.