Life insurance revenues surge

The premium revenue of China's insurers in the first half of the year grew rapidly to reach 1.9 trillion yuan ($285 billion), but their profitability was challenged by the gloomy stock market and rising expenses, said the insurance regulator.

Revenue from premiums across the insurance industry in the first six months increased 37.3 percent year-on-year, of which life insurance revenue rose 45 percent and that of property insurance grew 7.1 percent, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Thursday.

"Chinese insurers grew quickly as they improved their business structure and paid attention to risk control," said Duan Haizhou, a deputy division chief of the information and statistics department at the CIRC.