Authorities are introducing curbs on Shanghai-listed companies’ ability to halt trading of their own shares in moves aimed at preventing a repeat of actions during the summer crash — and which stand in stark contrast to easier-going rules in Hong Kong.

中国有关方面拟出台新规限制在上海上市的公司停止自身股票交易的能力，此举旨在防止今夏股市下滑期间出现的大面积停牌现象重演，并与香港的更宽松规则形成鲜明对比。

The Shanghai Stock Exchange plans to limit share suspensions due to asset restructuring to no longer than three months, with an additional two-month suspension permitted if circumstances warrant.

上海证券交易所(Shanghai Stock Exchange)计划将资产重组所导致的停牌时期限制在不超过3个月，若情况需要，可再停牌2个月。

The draft rules come as the suspension of three mainland shipping groups in Hong Kong, for an expected state-sanctioned merger, passes that exact three-month mark without an update from the companies involved.

《关于进一步规范上市公司停复牌及相关信息披露的通知(征求意见稿)》出炉之际，三家在香港上市的内地航运集团因预期将进行国家批准的合并而停牌超过3个月，但这些公司没有披露最新情况。

Shanghai’s proposals, which are open for comment until Friday, will allow a further two-month suspension permitted if circumstances warrant. Suspensions will not, however, be allowed to last more than five months.

上海的《通知(征求意见稿)》将公开征求意见至本周五。它将允许在特殊情况下再停牌2个月。然而，停牌总长将不允许超过5个月。

The changes are aimed at stopping a repeat of early July when at the height of the Chinese stock market rout more than half of all listed companies suspended trading, purportedly due to “plans for major asset restructuring”. In reality, the suspensions were designed to prevent share price falls amid panic selling.

这些变化旨在防止今年7月初的情况重演，当时正值中国股市下滑进入最严重时期，逾一半上市公司以“计划重大资产重组”为由停牌。实际上，这些停牌行为意在阻止股价在恐慌性抛售中进一步下跌。

In addition to trapping investors during tumultuous trading, the mass suspensions played havoc with exchange traded funds that track broad indices, causing big discrepancies between the funds and their underlying assets.

除了在交易动荡期间“套住”投资者以外，这种大面积停牌给跟踪大盘指数的交易所交易基金(ETF)带来严重混乱，造成ETF和其标的资产之间出现较大差异。

“A lot of companies chose to suspend trading and some of these gave reasons that were quite vague,” said Guo Yanhong, an analyst at Founder Securities in Beijing. “I suspect the senior management of a lot of these companies were also shareholders and worried about falling stock prices.”

“很多公司选择了停牌，其中一些给出相当含糊的理由，”北京方正证券(Founder Securities)分析师郭艳红表示。“我怀疑这些公司中很多公司的高层管理人员也是股东，他们担心股价下跌。”

Mr Guo added that he believed the authorities also genuinely wanted to speed up mergers and restructuring.

郭艳红补充说，他相信当局也真心希望加快兼并和重组。

Since the start of 2014, 13 per cent of Shanghai-listed companies that suspended trading in their shares citing asset restructuring did so for more than five months, the official China Securities News reported yesterday.

据官方的《中国证券报》昨日报道，自2014年初以来，在以资产重组为由停牌的上海上市公司中，13%的公司停牌超过5个月。

The Hong Kong-listed shares of three mainland shipping companies — China Cosco Holdings, China Shipping Container Lines and China Shipping Development have been suspended since August 10 pending news expected to involve a merger.

与此同时，在香港上市的三家内地航运公司——中国远洋(China Cosco Holdings)、中海集运(China Shipping Container Lines)和中海发展(China Shipping Development)——自8月10日停牌至今，等待一则预计涉及一宗合并交易的消息发布。

Asian bourses including Hong Kong and its mainland counterparts have typically been more amenable to share suspensions than are western markets such as London and New York, where suspensions are minimal and very brief.

相比停牌很少且非常短暂的西方股市（如伦敦和纽约），亚洲股市（包括香港和中国内地股市）一般对停牌更为宽容。

The trading halts are a source of frustration to investors who have called for regulators to allow some form of grey-market trading. Hong Kong has few hard and fast rules to limit the length of suspensions, and as of the end of October, $46bn of equity in Hong Kong had been frozen for more than three months, up from $12bn in April.

对投资者来说，停牌是一件令人不满的事情，他们呼吁监管机构允许某种形式的灰色市场交易。香港在停牌期限方面没有什么刚性规定，截至10月底，香港总计有价值460亿美元的股票被冻结超过3个月，高于4月份的120亿美元。