Revenues of China's listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses reached 11.3 trillion yuan (1.65 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2008, accounting for 37.67 percent of the country's total GDP in the same year, according to China's securities authorities.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said profits of the firms stood at 1.07 trillion yuan in 2008, making up 36.31 percent of the profits of all Chinese enterprises each with annual sales of over 5 million yuan.

By the end of 2008, China had 1,625 firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, with the total assets valued at 48.7 trillion yuan, according to the CSRC.

By September this year, there were 1,678 firms listed on the two bourses. And China had lauched the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), a Nasdaq-style market, as ten firms took subscriptions on Sept. 25.

China set up its first stock market, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, in December 1990.