Four months ago, when China’s stock market was flying high, regulators and exchange officials were brimming with ambition and discussing bold reforms. Then the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index fell by 35 per cent in less than a month. Now the focus is back on risk control and stability, with deregulation firmly on hold.

四个月前，当中国股市还在飙升之际，监管机构、交易所官员满怀雄心，讨论着大胆的改革举措。随后，上证综指在不到一个月的时间里暴跌了35%。而今，政策重点又回到了风险控制与稳定，放松管制的措施被坚决搁置起来。

While listed companies and their investors are pleased that the government and state-owned financial institutions have stepped in with aggressive measures to support the market, those seeking to raise new capital now face an uncertain future.

虽然上市公司及投资者对政府和国有金融机构采取激进措施介入救市感到欣喜，但那些寻求筹集新资金的企业如今却面临着不确定的未来。

More than 550 companies were awaiting government approval to list on either the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges by mid-August. But amid the market turmoil, the regulator said it would slow the pace of initial public offerings (IPOs) to avoid siphoning demand from existing shares.

截至8月中旬，有超过550多家公司在上交所或深交所上市的申请正在等待审批。但在股市动荡期间，监管机构表示将放慢首次公开发行(IPO)申请的审批速度，以避免稀释现有股票的需求。

That is an abrupt reversal from earlier in the year, when regulators were not only approving IPOs at a swift clip, but also discussing how to eliminate the approval requirement altogether. The plan was to replace approval with a streamlined registration system, devolving authority from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to the stock exchanges.

这是相对今年早些时候情况的一场突然逆转，那时，监管机构不但审批IPO的速度很快，而且还在讨论如何一股脑取消所有审批规定。他们的计划是要用简化的登记制度取代批准制度，将权力从中国证监会(CSRC)下放至证交所。

That would move China’s stock markets toward the norms of developed markets, where regulators and stock exchanges focus on ensuring accurate and complete information disclosure but let investors decide which companies can sell shares and at what price.

此番举措将推动中国股市向发达市场的惯例靠拢，在发达市场，监管机构与证交所将主要精力放在确保准确、完整的信息披露上，而哪些公司可以出售股票、以什么价格出售则由投资者自己决定。

“Before the market turmoil, people were talking about a phase-in of the registration system by the end of this year. Now there’s not much hope for that,” says Zhu Ning, vice dean of the Advanced Institute of Finance at Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

上海交通大学(Jiaotong University)上海高级金融学院(Advanced Institute of Finance)副院长朱宁说：“股市暴跌之前，人们都在谈论今年年底前将逐步采用登记制度。现在看来，希望不大。”

For years the IPO approval system has distorted stock market valuations and encouraged corruption and rent-seeking. The limited supply of new shares means IPOs are always massively oversubscribed. That is because those lucky enough to win an allotment earn risk-free profits when shares invariably soar on their debut. First-day pops are assured because the regulator has also imposed an informal cap on price-earnings ratios at about 23 times earnings, even though market demand generally supports much higher valuations for new companies.

多年来，IPO审批制度扭曲了股市估值，鼓励了腐败和寻租。新股供应有限意味着IPO总会得到大量超额认购。这是因为新股首发后无一例外飙涨，那些获得配售的幸运儿可以赚取无风险的利润。首日大涨是肯定的，因为监管机构还对新股发行价对应的市盈率设定了不超过23倍的非正式“红线”——哪怕市场需求通常可以支撑对新上市公司高得多的估值。

Yet powerful vested interests oppose the move to a registration system, including factions within the CSRC, whose authority over IPOs gives them enormous power. With the ability to determine who gets to sell shares, when, and at what price, opportunities for corruption are rife. The CSRC fired the head of its issuance bureau, Li Zhiling, in late June, saying it had handed evidence of illegal stock trading by her spouse over to police.

然而，强大的既得利益集团反对改用登记制度，其中包括证监会内部一些小集团，他们对IPO的控制权给了自身巨大的权力。由于能够决定谁可以出售股票以及在何时、以什么价格出售，他们腐败的机会无处不在。6月下旬，中国证监会开除了发行监管部门负责人李志玲，称已将李志玲丈夫涉嫌非法交易股票的证据交给了警方。

Industry insiders say that influential private equity (PE) funds, who often win hefty pre-IPO stakes in companies, planning to list are also opposed to a registration system. That is because PE funds — many of which are run by relatives of current or former leaders — often obtain their stakes at low valuations on the understanding that their government connections will help the company navigate the IPO approval process. A more open system for managing the flow of IPOs would remove this powerful bargaining chip.

业内人士称，有影响力的私募股权(PE)基金往往能获得准备上市的企业的大量IPO前股份，这些基金也反对实施登记制度。这是因为私募股权基金（其中许多都是由现任或前任领导人的亲属经营）通常能够以低估值获得在某公司的股份，只要他们在政府里的人脉关系可以帮助该公司疏通IPO审批流程。更加开放的IPO管理制度将使这块强大的议价筹码不复存在。

A major casualty of the delay in moving to a registration system is a new equity board planned for the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Strategic Emerging Industries Board was intended to host high-profile tech companies. Exchange executives have expressed the hope that the new board could lure Chinese companies listed in the US and elsewhere to repatriate, a process that had already begun during the Chinese share rally.

登记制度的推迟对上交所计划中的新板造成的影响最大。战略新兴产业板(Strategic Emerging Industries Board)旨在吸引备受瞩目的科技公司。上交所高管表示，希望新板能吸引在美国及其他国家上市的中国企业回归国内上市——一个早已在中国股市大涨期间开始的进程。

Alibaba’s choice of the New York Stock Exchange for its record-breaking IPO last year prompted questions among financial elites who asked why China’s most successful non-state-owned company was unwilling to tap capital markets at home.

阿里巴巴(Alibaba)去年选择纽交所(New York Stock Exchange)进行自己创纪录的IPO让中国的金融精英产生疑问：为什么中国最成功的非国有企业不愿利用国内资本市场？

The board was intended to operate on a registration system from the beginning, with the goal of allowing a company to complete the IPO process in about six months.

战略新兴产业板本打算从一开始就按登记制度运行，目标是让拟上市企业在约6个月内完成IPO进程。

The board also represents the Shanghai exchange’s attempt to steal market share back from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, whose ChiNext board has become a popular destination for tech start-ups and small companies from other next-generation industries.

战略新兴产业板也代表着出上交所希望从深交所拿回部分市场份额的尝试，后者的创业板(ChiNext)已成为受到下一代行业中科技创业型企业及小企业热捧的上市场所。

“We will establish an equity market with broad coverage, multiple channels, low costs, strict regulation and multiple layers,” Xiao Gang, the CSRC chairman, said in June.

今年6月，证监会主席肖钢称：“要建立广覆盖、多渠道、低成本、高效率、严监管的多层次股权市场。”

“The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s establishment of the strategic emerging industries board can provide a complementary development to ChiNext.”

“在上海证券交易所设立战略新兴板，与创业板错位发展。”

But given all that has happened, such remarks seem like a distant memory.

但考虑到近来发生的一切，此番言论听起来像是遥远的回忆。

Analysts say that only when stability and confidence return to the markets will regulators’ appetite for innovation and liberalisation gradually return.

分析师表示，只有在稳定和信心回归股市的时候，监管机构对创新和开放的兴趣才会逐渐恢复。