An investor tracks A-share performance in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian Province, on Monday. Photos: CNSphoto

China's equity fund management authority said on Wednesday that companies in the fund management sector should not carry out or participate in entertainment-related activities.

Fund managers should pay attention to professionalism, integrity, and compliance when carrying out investment-related educational activities, guide investors to establish correct financial management concepts, and adhere to long-term investment, value investment and rational investment, read the notice issued by the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), a self-regulatory association of fund management companies in China.

The remarks came after some well-known fund managers were reportedly invited to participate in Day Day Up, a popular Chinese talk show on Hunan Television. 

Fund managers who received invitation letters included Zhang Kun, who is deputy general manager of research at public equity fund management company Efund, according to a report by the Beijing News on Wednesday.

Several fund managers have confirmed that they will not participate in the talk show, said the Beijing News report.

Zhang stood out since the end of last year and quickly became popular among investors because the funds he managed brought better-than-expected earnings. He is the first fund manager in China to have managed a fund surpassing 100 billion yuan ($15.47 billion).

On January 25, the net value of one of the funds Zhang managed - Efund Blue-chip Selection, which invests heavily in liquor companies and Hong Kong-listed high-tech firms -- rose by more than 5 percent amid an across-the-board rally. 

That night, Zhang and his blue-chip fund featured in Weibo's hot searches, with some joking that Efund, as well as Romanee-Conti and Lafite Rothschild, were the world's three most prestigious chateaus.

However, after the Spring Festival holidays, the market took a U-turn. Within a few trading days in the Year of the Ox, the net value of a fund managed by Zhang dropped by 10 percent, resulting in net losses for some newcomers to the market.

Many investors who once called themselves fans of Zhang, began to raise questions and engage in verbal abuse and even defamation.

As of the end of 2020, the number of China's public fund management institutions stood at 146, operating 7,913 public equity funds, with a total management scale of 19.89 trillion yuan, data from the AMAC showed.