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This paper empirically investigates the relation between uncertainty and investment among China's listed companies, and analyzes the influence of government control on the investment-uncertainty relation. We find that there is a negative relation between total firm uncertainty and investment in China's listed companies. However, this holds only for privately controlled firms. Among privately controlled listed firms, investment is negatively related to firm-specific uncertainty, whereas among government-controlled ones, investment is positively related to market uncertainty. We also find that the risk-taking preference of government-controlled listed companies is greater among those firms with fewer investment opportunities. Finally, among financially distressed firms, the negative relation between investment and uncertainty becomes nonsignificant because of risk shifting, which is more serious among government-controlled listed companies. We conclude that government control leads to state interference and weak corporate governance, which, in turn, distorts investment decision making among listed companies.

In China, 'community' was an alien word. Many people used to live in dormitories (Danwei), to which they were assigned by government according to their work units. 'Dormitory form' community was closely linked to where people worked, and thus administration and supervision were simple, as was the provision of health services. In each Danwei, a clinic provided basic healthcare not only for its employees but also for the other residents of the dormitory. The old primary care service was based on this. In fact, the 'golden age' of community mental healthcare was at that time, when psychiatric hospitals extended their service to communities via the Danwei 's clinics in the cities and via 'barefoot doctors' in the rural areas. Home beds, occupational therapy stations and shelter factories were set up in some cities and mobile mental health teams played important roles in the villages. Although this did not really represent the 'integration' of mental health into primary care, it was a good example of maximising the utilisation of the very limited mental health resources by stretching the psychiatric service, using administrative power, and mobilising family members (Shen et al, 1990; Zhang & Yan, 1990; Zhang, 1999).