After six years of debate, the Chinese parliament has passed a law to police the country's stock markets and protect the interests of the forty million Chinese who buy and sell shares.

The BBC Beijing correspondent says that the lessons of the Asian financial crisis spurred legislators to put aside their differences and enact the legislation.

Our correspondent says that another consideration has been problems on Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges which have been rocked by repeated crises over speculation, price volatility, illegal trading and fraud in the six years they've been established.

The new legislation mantains the existing ban on foreigners trading in China's main share markets.