Since 1998, listed companies in China have begun to publicly disclose the annual salaries of executives, defined as the sum of the top three highest-paid executives. Generally speaking, among the top three highest-paid individuals, there are often the chairman and general manager, so this data can basically express the income status of the highest-level managers of the company. In 1998, the average annual salary of executives was 51,761 yuan, which increased to 116,000 yuan by 2001, meaning a doubling in four years.
By 2006, among the 1,254 listed companies that had disclosed their 2006 annual reports, the personal average annual salary for executives was 162,800 yuan, an increase of only 40% compared to 2001. However, a significant feature was the widening gap in executive compensation. Ping An of China ranked first with a total annual compensation of 74.6485 million yuan for its executives, followed by Bank of China at 32.1133 million yuan, and S Shenzhen Development Bank in third place with a total annual compensation of 29.32 million yuan for its executives. From the perspective of the general manager position, the highest was from Ping An of China, with an annual compensation of 13.382 million yuan, which is 1,115 times higher than the lowest at 12,000 yuan.