"As the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the watchdog of China's largest State-owned enterprises (SOEs), tightened the performance evaluations of the top management of those SOEs, they could hardly be patient with the business development of their joint venture life insurance companies which usually lose money in the first seven to eight years," says Zheng Wei, an insurance professor with Peking University.

A difference in profit expectations between joint venture partners can be one of the major reasons for divorce. Chinese partners, especially private ones, are more eager to cash in and usually don't want wait long before they do so.

Allianz Dazhong Insurance Co is both a typical and the first example of this. In 2006, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) approved a stake change under which CITIC Trust and Investment Company (CITIC Trust) would take over Dazhong Insurance Co's 49 percent stake in the joint venture with Germany-based Allianz, which was established in 1999.

Analysts say there was a touch of bluster and claim that the long-term losses of the joint-venture insurer were the real reason for Dazhong's departure.

Dazhong had been longing for a listing but the once-profitable company saw a huge loss of 130 million yuan in 2003, the year it planned to go public. The next year was not much better; the company suffered a loss of over 50 million yuan, of which some 18 million yuan was attributed to Allianz Dazhong Insurance.

"After six years of losses, Dazhong lost its patience," says an analyst with China Securities. "And transferring its shares in the joint-venture life insurer is a good way to make profits in the short term."