Chinese shares experienced one of the severest drops in a decade on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Component Index both plunging more than eight percent each.

The decline is being blamed on profit taking.

The following is a list of the previous four biggest daily dives of the two indices since China put a 10-percent limit on fluctuations of prices in 1996:

-- On Dec. 16, 1996, the Shanghai index plummeted 9.91 percent and the Shenzhen index 10.08 percent.

-- The Shanghai index dropped by a sharp 9.44 percent and the Shenzhen index 9.99 percent the following day.

-- On Feb. 18, 1997, the Shanghai index slumped 8.91 percent and the Shenzhen index 9.55 percent.

-- On Feb. 27, 2007, the Shanghai index plunged 8.84 percent and the Shenzhen index tumbled 9.29 percent.

Source: Xinhua