After being suspended for 20 years, China?s insurance industry began to resume its activities in 1980. In 1981, the People?s Insurance Company of China was transformed from a government department into a specialized company, with branches in all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and sub-branches in all the counties. The year 1988 witnessed the founding of the Safety Insurance Company and the Pacific Insurance Company, which are mainly active in the coastal areas. In 1996, the People?s Insurance Company of China made a big step forward in transforming its administration system and operational mode, in setting up a modern enterprise system, and in integrating with the international market. The promulgation of the Insurance Law and the founding of the China Insurance Supervision and Management Commission have provided the legal basis and operation rules for the operation of the insurance market. In 1999 China had a total of 29 insurance companies, including four state-owned insurance companies, 10 joint-stock insurance companies, five Chinese-foreign jointly run insurance companies, and 10 branches of foreign-funded insurance companies. Thus a new setup of an embryonic form has come into being, with the state-owned insurance companies as the mainstay, coexistence of Chinese and foreign insurance companies and competitions among various insurance companies and competitions among various insurance companies. In 2001, there were 597 insurance institutions nationwide, 333 of them being property insurance companies and 264 life insurance companies.
