The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Securities also vows to better regulate the salaries of high-level officials of State-owned enterprises. These SOEs make up a large portion of the 13-hundred listed companies whose high-level officials are reported to have enjoyed a steep rise in salaries. As is the rule in China, their earnings should be tagged to companies' profits.

Up, up on the rise.

More than 80 percent of the 13-hundred companies are making fatter profits, and so are their executives, including some in a stunning manner.

Zhonghong Real Estate has seen their net profits increase by more than 150 percent. And the average salary of their management team has tripled.

Meanwhile, Ningxia Hengli Steel Wire Group is far more generous. The company lost nearly 60-million yuan last year. But its executives still enjoyed an increase in their salary of nearly 30 percent.

Shao Yongliang, Chief Researcher of China Center for Market Value Management, said, "More than two hundred listed firms have experience a loss in profits, and about 50 have even seen losses. But 70 percent of them have increased the salary of their high-level officials."

The rampant rise of executives' salaries have upset most investors.

Ms. Liu has been investing in a chemistry company for a year. Though a 14 percent drop in net profits was reported, its officials have still seen their bank accounts doubled.

Ms. Liu, Investor, said, "It's very irresponsible. They did not run the company well. How can they raise their salary when they were not even doing their jobs?"

In her own words, while the high-level officials were happily sharing the cake, investors could not even get a crumb.