SHANGHAI, Nov 5, 2007 (AFP) - PetroChina shares began trading on the Shanghai stock exchange Monday, immediately soaring to make the company the world's largest by market capitalisation.

It has been a remarkable year for Chinese share sales. Here follows a list of major Chinese initial public offerings since January, ranged according to the size of the share sale.

The dates mark the first day of trading. Conversion into US dollars is according to the official exchange rate at the time of listing.

-- PetroChina: 8.9 billion dollars, November 5

-- Shenhua Energy, 8.9 billion dollars, October 9

-- China Construction Bank, 7.7 billion dollars, September 25

-- CITIC Bank, 5.4 billion dollars (1.7 billion dollars in Shanghai, 3.7 billion dollars in Hong Kong), April 27

-- Ping An Insurance, 5.0 billion dollars, March 1

-- China Life Insurance Co., 3.6 billion dollars, January 9

-- Bank of Communications, 3.4 billion dollars, May 15

-- Bank of Beijing, 2.0 billion dollars, September 19

-- COSCO Holding, 2.0 billion dollars, June 26

-- Industrial Bank, 2.0 billion dollars, February 5

-- Chalco, 1.1 billion dollars, April 30