Indeed, many Chinese investors had already deserted the fund market in droves last year. The number of individual fund accounts at the end of 2008 fell by 20 percent from a year earlier.

Employment pamphlets are displayed at the East Bay Works One-Stop Career Center April 17, 2009 in Oakland, California. [CFP]

Many investors were stunned by the huge losses of their stock investment. Some investors even expressed doubt about the latest stock market rally, and said they would rather keep their money in banks this year than invest it in stocks.

However, Yang Jie, a manager of Bank of Communications, recommended stock-oriented funds as she expects the stock market to rally further on the strength of the country's economic stimulus plans. "It's a good time to invest now for long-term investors," she said.

What seemed to have irked some investors was that the huge losses didn't seem to have affected the 2008 income of fund management companies, which rose by an average of 8.28 percent from a year before, to 30.7 billion yuan, according to TX Investment Consulting.

The findings of a fund manager capability survey by Sohu.com last month revealed that 80 percent of the respondents were disappointed at the lack of professionalism of fund managers, who were widely blamed for their failure to fully inform them of the risks associated with the products they sold. There were also indications that some managers actively misled potential investors.

"To better protect the long-term interests of fund holders, better regulation and oversight would be required," said Wang Lianzhou, executive director of the editorial committee of China's Securities Investment Funds Yearbook.

(China Daily April 21, 2009)