Suning's Shanghai headquarters has announced plans to open 20 new electronics stores in Shanghai in 2009, covering 12 districts including Minhang, Baoshan, Pudong New Area, Xuhui, Jing'an, Huangpu, and Fengxian. At present, Suning has opened more than 50 stores in Shanghai and by the end of 2009, the company is expected to have over 70 stores, [...]

This is the time of year in which many  investors really start to study corporate earnings, jobless statistics and all sorts of other state data in an effort to divine what’s next for China. But I simply prefer to head for the Wan Chai Street Market in Hong Kong, or the Temple Street Night Market across the harbor in Kowloon, and check on hairy crab prices as we approach the Lunar New Year.

These delectable little guys are usually served steamed, with a splash of soy sauce. When China’s booming like it was in recent years, shoppers are hard-pressed to find a store that can keep them on the shelves. And at 720RMB, or $420HK (about $60 U.S.), that’s no small feat for a palm-sized morsel. They’re expensive, and taste great.

A hairy crab, if you’ve never seen

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With the onset of 2009, Beijing is cracking down on web portals and search engines that publish material deemed to be too vulgar or subversive for the nation’s 300 million-plus Internet users. Chinese authorities have reportedly implemented new software that lets them more easily track and counter threats, and have issued stern warnings to industry leaders such as Baidu.com Inc. (ADR: BIDU) and Google Inc. (GOOG).

The government earlier this week cited 19 Web sites - including Baidu, Google, Sohu, Sina, and Tianya - as purveyors of vulgar content that is morally or politically destructive.

Some results produced by search engines had “large amounts of pornographic links [and] after notification from the complaint center, the site did not take effective countermeasures,” the State Council Information Office said in a statement.

“Some Web sites have exploited loopholes in laws and regulations,” said Cai Minzhao, deputy chief of the Information

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The base metals were all in the green in light post-Christmas trading on Monday. Copper noodled around within a tight 4-cent range the whole day, finishing at $1.3115/lb., up more than 2 cents from Friday. Nickel had a good day, advancing to $4.409/lb., up 17 cents. Zinc moved slightly higher, closing at $0.5164/lb., up three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum posted a modest gain to $0.6868/lb., up more than a penny, while lead had a very strong day, adding nearly 4 cents, to $0.4177/lb.

Copper benefited from the strength in crude and the shakiness of the dollar, most of which had to do with the amped-up strife in the Middle East. Analysts generally believe any rally will be short-lived as demand destruction continues apace.

Supporting the pessimistic view were stockpiles that show no signs of slackening in their buildup. Copper inventories monitored by the LME gained another 5,250 metric tons yesterday,

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According to Fu Mengxi, vice president for Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd., the company will open a new Sam's Club in Pudong, Shanghai in 2009. The new store is Wal-Mart's first Sam's Club in Shanghai and its fourth on the Chinese mainland. Having entered the Chinese mainland market in 1996 with its first store opened in Shenzhen, [...]

China's leading beer brewer China Resources Snow Breweries has announced plans to invest CNY650 million to set up a production base in Shanghai. The foundation-laying ceremony for the base in Shanghai Baoshan Industrial Zone was completed on December 18, 2008, marking the brand's overall entrance into the Shanghai market. Covering a total area of 190,000 square meters, [...]

Bank of Beijing has opened its fifth branch out of Beijing in Hangzhou to offer help to small and medium size enterprises during the global financial crisis. As a leading city commercial bank in China, BOB has grown faster over the years. It has already opened branches in Tianjin, Shanghai, Xi'an and Shenzhen. Located at Hanghzou's [...]

At a cross-straits conference in Shanghai, the Chinese government pledged to help Taiwan through any economic slowdown. Part of that pledge included a title=lcd target=_blank href=http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSTP4977520081222$2 billion of orders for the flat panel monitors/TVs /afrom Taiwan manufacturers. brbrThink AUO Optronics (NYSE:AUO) is happy about this news?

In its latest effort to maintain an annual economic growth rate of 8%, China announced new plans to stimulate the country’s ailing real estate sector.

Beijing said the new stimulus package will benefit 7.5 million low-income urban families and 2.4 million households located in the more remote countryside.

China pumped $387.5 billion into real estate development over the first 11 months of the year, up 22.7% from the same period in 2007. However, residential sales fell 18.8% year-over-year, despite the investment.

Beijing is now trying to reignite the once red-hot real estate sector by implementing the following reforms:

Owners who have owned their home for two or more years can now sell it without paying business taxes. Owners previously had to wait five years before selling their home tax-free. Owners who have owned their home for less than two years will now only be required pay taxes on their profit, not the total sales price. ...

The Chinese electronics retailer Suning has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the American appliances maker Whirlpool to sell Whirlpool's water heaters in Suning's chain stores around China. Suning says that the first batch of Whirlpool water heaters will be sold in Suning's 155 stores in 26 Chinese cities, including those in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, [...]