But the partner seems happy with the split. "We are very pleased to find a new partner in CITIC Trust, which shares our strategy for rapid growth and expansion in the China life insurance market," says Werner Zedelius, board member responsible for growth markets of Allianz AG.

Such split-ups in part epitomize the Chinese insurance sector's opening process.

From 1980 to 2007, China's insurance premium sales have seen a growth of 1,650 times, jumping from 460 million yuan to 703.5 billion yuan, making insurance one of the most rapidly growing industries in the country.

In February 1979, the People's Bank of China decided to reopen the insurance sector at home, giving the industry a strong boost after more than 20 years suspension since 1958.

However, the development road is not always even. In the memory of Ma Mingzhe, chairman of Ping An Insurance, people in 1980s had no idea about the insurance at all.

And when Ping An, the country's first private insurance company opened in 1988, most of enterprises had a hard time accepting the fact that there would be two insurers in the country.

After Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening up, made his southern tour in 1992 and reinvigorated the reform process, banking, securities and trust sectors have become much more active in the market. But the insurance industry still remains relatively quiet.