Sound bites

"It is essential for authorities to boost market confidence and probe market manipulations. There might be some side effects from the State purchase of stocks from the market, but that should be left aside to be handled sometime later. The most urgent task is to stabilize the market, consolidate market confidence and stop the market slide."

Yi Xianrong, researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

"Declines of such a magnitude are enough to trigger a financial crisis, and the issue is now elevated to the State level. It's about restoring confidence now."