UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - April 18

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 18 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Friday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd (601318.SS), China's second-largest life insurer, said first-quarter premiums at its life insurance unit were 27.67 billion yuan ($3.96 billion), while premiums at its property unit were 7.52 billion yuan.

-- First-quarter figures from 34 funds showed that 25 stock-oriented funds had reduced their portfolios' equity weightings by an average of 7 percentage points, as the stock market slumped, although redemptions were relatively small.

-- Chinese property developer Poly Real Estate Co (600048.SS) reported a 253 percent rise in first-quarter net profit from a year earlier to 276 million yuan, or 0.11 yuan per share.

-- The time is not ripe for China to encourage all companies to embrace stock incentive plans as the country's capital markets and corporate governance are not yet mature enough, said Shao Ning, vice chairman of China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. The regulator will also cap annual pay rises for senior managers at state-owned firms at 7 percent to narrow the income gap with ordinary workers, and would link their pay with the company's performance in a more effective way.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- China's top securities regulator Shang Fulin said the government would strengthen supervision to fight corruption, to give strong political backing to reform of the country's capital markets, and would ensure stable development of the market.

-- Xiao Jie, head of China's tax bureau, said in a recent article that the agency would study plans to further reform its real estate tax system to promote the construction of less expensive housing while tightening controls over the real estate market.

-- Henan Rebecca Hair Products Co (600439.SS), a Chinese maker of wigs and hair pieces, plans to raise product prices by 10 to 15 percent this year to offset the impact of yuan appreciation, the company's board secretary Lu Xiaoxiao said.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union Co's (600010.SS) net profit in 2007 rose 161.75 percent from a year earlier to 1.75 billion yuan, while earnings per share rose 80 percent to 0.36 yuan, bolstered by rising steel prices and production.

-- Some economists worry that an influx of speculative money from overseas investors, drawn by China's appreciating currency and seeking a haven from the subprime debt crisis, could worsen excess liquidity and inflation in China.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- China Banking Regulatory Commission head Liu Mingkang said more work should be done to improve financial services for Chinese small firms.

-- China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Shang Fulin pledged to fight corruption in the securities system.

-- Chinese stock investors must learn the importance of "value investment", and securities brokerages should help investors to learn it, China's securities association said.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- New Zealand Minister of Research, Science and Technology Pete Hodgson said his country is committed to working with China in scientific fields, after the recently signed free trade deal.

-- A 24-hour wireless water quality observation system has been deployed in parts of the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province to prevent a repeat of last year's water pollution crisis, which had caused a drinking water shortage for 2.3 million residents in Wuxi for several days.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- Jiangxi Province has pledged to ensure no drop in provincial cereal output in 2008.

-- Fire broke out at China's northeastern forest, no casualties reported.

-- China has slaughtered 260,000 chickens and ducks for bird flu control in the last three months. ($1=6.983 Yuan) (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)