Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance, a joint venture led by the Canadian insurance company, has received approval to operate in the city of Jinhua and was given licenses for five satellite offices in three provinces.

The joint venture of Manulife and the China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company is now licensed in 39 Chinese cities.

Manulife said the new insurance licenses were granted shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent trip to the country.

Jinhua, with a population of 4.6 million, is a communications centre in southeast China and is one of the major hubs of land transportation in the country.

Manulife-Sinochem currently has more than 11,000 staff and agents serving over 450,000 customers across China.