The reform plans that China's securities watchdog unveiled at the weekend spell new opportunities for Chinese investors in the long run.

After suspending new share offerings for more than a year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued guidelines to introduce a system of registration for IPO issuances to replace the current administrative approval mechanism.

Given that more than 700 firms are in the IPO pipeline and about 50 of them are expected to go to market by the end of January, it is understandable that stocks in China tumbled amid worries that a flood of IPOs could divert funds from the secondary market.