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A local government initiative to trade traditional adobe kangs (hot beds) for more efficient diao kangs will keep villagers in Heshun county in North China a bit warmer this winter. Page 3

Huge losses under the QDII (Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor) scheme have Chinese investors filing complaints against the banks involved. QDII gives Chinese investors access to foreign securities markets through commercial banks in China. But the global financial crisis led to sharp declines in many overseas stock markets. Page 4

A railway triangle will soon take shape in the Yangtze River Delta area as groundwork for a high-speed passenger rail line between Shanghai and Hangzhou begun in late February. Page 5

While most of the world's major construction projects have been put on hold, new skyscrapers are under construction in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and several smaller cities, defying the global economic slowdown. Page 6

Expatriates hoping to escape the perils of the real estate market at home are finding more of the same in China. While rents in both Beijing and Shanghai are dropping, foreigners are increasingly squeezed by layoffs, reductions in living allowances, and currency devaluations. Buying a house, once considered a good investment, is also dicey, as economic uncertainty affects both the price and the pool of potential buyers. Page 7

China's automakers, often touted as possible buyers of assets from desperate foreign giants, are instead heeding calls from Beijing to look to their fragmented and overcrowded home turf for deals. Page 8

While other retail formats such as department stores and supermarkets are reporting declining sales in the global economic downturn, 7-Eleven, the world's largest convenience store chain, has seen gains. Page 9

China's consumer prices fell for the first time since 2002 as food, clothing and fuel costs declined, threatening growth in the world's third largest economy. Consumer prices dropped 1.6 percent in February from a year earlier, when they reached an 11-year high, China's National Bureau of Statistics said last Tuesday. Producer prices fell 4.5 percent, the most in a decade.

China's vehicle output and sales in February exceeded 800,000 units for the first time in eight months, as Beijing's policy incentives lured buyers back to showrooms. Sales of passenger cars with engines of 1.6 liters or below increased 18.8 percent in the first two months from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Iraq inaugurated a $3 billion oil project on Wednesday with the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC), activating the country's first major oil deal after years of sanctions, underinvestment and war. Zhi Yulin, CNPC's top official in Iraq, said the deal would include a total of 138 wells and that drilling rigs would reach the field in two weeks.

Foreign direct investment proposals worth up to $100 million no longer need the approval of the central government, the Ministry of Commerce said last week. The central government has authorized its provinces to approve such proposals in a bid to step up the inflow of foreign capital in the face of the ongoing financial crisis.

China's foreign trade shrank sharply in February, according to the General Administration of Customs. Exports saw their biggest drop in a decade, dropping 25.7 percent year-on-year to $64.9 billion, the fourth monthly decline in a row. Imports fell 24.1 percent to $60.05 billion. The trade surplus was $4.8 billion, compared with $39.1 billion in January.

The number of Chinese mainland billionaires on the world's richest people list fell from 71 last year to 52 this year in the latest sign of the havoc wrought by the global financial crisis.

(China Daily 03/16/2009 page1)