According to latest statistics, China had a stock value totaled 4600 billion yuan at the end of November, about 50% of its GDP. Over 55 million Chinese across the country had opened accounts on the security market; and 1063 listed companies were reported from Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
China's securities market has been launched on a considerable scale after ten years' development. In 1991, there were only a score of listed companies in China's securities market operating with a monetary raising capability of only one to two billion yuan of stock funds and an annual exchange amount worth several billion yuan. But against these by now are over 1000 listed companies having been developed and a yearly trade volume of 500 billion yuan registered in the securities market.
Since China began to adopt the opening policy in 1978, the joint stock system firstly emerged in the urban and rural collective enterprises. In November 1984, Shanghai Feile Acoustics Company was restructured into a joint stock company, and became the first stock company in China to issue shares to the general public. On December 19, 1990, Shanghai Stock Exchange was opened to business, and on July 3, 1991, Shenzhen stock Exchange was established. The setting up of the two stock exchanges symbolized that China's stock market began to take shape.
In October 1992, the Chinese government decided to spread the experiment with stock issuance from Shanghai and Shenzhen to the whole country. On July 1, 1999, the Securities Law was put into effect, providing a legal basis for the further standardization of the operation of China's securities market and listed companies. China's securities market is developing rapidly and become an important part of China's socialist market economy.
(People’s Daily 12/06/2000)
