Li Jingmou , president of the China Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, believes it is more important to lead by example than to outgrow its rival exchanges at all costs.
As the country's first futures exchange, the Zhengzhou body has a crucial role to play in the development of futures trading.
'We have a very important responsibility. If we do not do a good job as the first pilot futures exchange, and if problems occur, people inside and outside the country will say China should not have moved into the futures market at such an early stage or should not have moved in at all,' Mr Li said.
He said they had taken good note of advice given by President Jiang Zemin during a visit last June. Mr Jiang advised the Zhengzhou exchange to strengthen its regulatory and risk management systems.
Mr Li said: 'At first people doubted our ability to develop a futures market in inland China, but we have proved to them that we can and we do it well.' The exchange, which provides a benchmark for grain product prices in China, is the first in the country to join the International Option Market Association.
But it has also suffered some the scandals and problems that have plagued other futures exchanges in the country.
