Premier Wen Jiabao's promise to protect the rights of minority shareholders on Saturday has been welcomed by investors, who have suffered heavy losses on the stock markets over the past four years.

　　Rampant market irregularities by listed firms, lack of action from regulators to crack down on the irregularities, as well as structural problems have been blamed by experts and investors for the bearish market performance during the past four years. Most minority stock holders are bitter after losing heavily during the period.

　　Chinese stock markets hit five year record lows in the past two months despite consistently impressive economic growth rates.

　　Yan, a Beijing investor, said Wen's promise sent a clear message government departments will consider investors when dealing with the securities sector.

　　Regulating the market according to the law is vital for investors to regain confidence, Yan said.

　　He said Chinese stock markets would be less risky for investors if the regulators, listed firms, securities firms and accounting offices were honest and acted in accordance with the law.

　　Some listed firms, mostly state-owned, have fabricated figures to fool investors in public offerings and make promises they never intend to honor. Yet few firms were properly punished.

　　But most experts said the lackluster market performance has been caused by a structural problem - the split share structure resulting from the planned economy.

　　This refers to the existence of a large volume of non-tradable shares. Only about one-third of shares in domestically listed companies are floated on the market.

　　(Xinhua)