Using a sample of China’s A-share listed companies for the period 2001-2004,this paper investigates the influence of institutional environment variables,including the process of marketization,level of local government intervention,and local legal environment,on blockholder characteristics and ownership concentration,and the relation between the endogeneity of ownership structure and institutional environment.Our results indicate that the effects of these variables on ownership concentration are(1)positive for listed companies controlled by state asset management bureaus affiliated with local governments,(2)negative for listed companies controlled by state-owned enterprises affiliated with local governments and(3)unclear for listed private companies.These variables also positively affect the degree of privatization of listed companies in China. Using a sample of China’s A-share listed companies for the period 2001-2004, this paper investigates the influence of institutional environment variables, including the process of marketization, level of local government intervention, and local legal environment, on blockholder characteristics and ownership concentration , and the relation between the endogeneity of ownership structure and institutional environment. Our results indicate that the effects of these variables on ownership concentration are (1) positive for listed companies controlled by state asset management bureaus affiliated with local governments, (2) negative for listed companies controlled by state-owned enterprises affiliated with local governments and (3) unclear for listed private companies. These variables also positively affect the degree of privatization of listed companies in China.