As Chinese stock markets experienced steep falls last year the country's central bank contacted the Federal Reserve seeking advice to avoid an economic crash on July 27th.

Email exchanges obtained by Reuters under the freedom of information act show that a Chinese official contacted the Fed asking for details of how the US reacted to Wall St's 1987 'Black Monday' crash.

The People's Bank of China's (PBOC) New York-based chief representative for the Americas, Song Xiangyan contacted a senior Fed staffer through an email titled "Your urgent assistance is greatly appreciated!"

Following an 8.5 percent drop in Chinese stocks the message reads, "my Governor would like to draw from your good experience."

"Could you please inform us ASAP about the major measures you took at the time," it continued.

The message was replied to immediately, and within hours a comprehensive email containing publicly available documents relating to the bank's dealing with the crash were sent to the Chinese representative, along with notes guiding the recipient through the documents.

Federal Reserve policy makers' meetings have repeatedly highlighted the dangers of market volatility in China and the effects that it could have on the global economy.

It is unclear how common such communication and sharing of information is between the two banks.