PRESS DIGEST - China - July 20

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 20 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Monday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Li Yang, an academic and former central banker adviser, said that China should accelerate development of its capital markets to help fund the country's 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus plan.

-- The China Securities Regulatory Commission is studying development plans for the country's over-the-counter equity trading market, part of efforts to build a multi-layer capital market, according to commission researcher Wang Ou.

-- Shanghai SK Petroleum and Chemical Equipment Corp, a petroleum exploration equipment maker, said it will issue 46 million shares in an initial public offering.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Datang Telecom (600198.SS) forecast that its first-half profit may have jumped more than 70 percent, boosted by the company's business restructuring and rising demand for its products due to China's push toward third-generation mobile telecommunications networks.

CHINA BUSINESS NEWS

-- Irico Group, China's biggest maker of cathode ray tubes (CRT), has stopped construction of a 14.6 billion yuan ($2.14 billion) production line that makes sixth-generation flat screen panels, citing fierce competition, greater financial pressure and increasing investment risks. Irico is the state-owned parent of listed firms Irico Group Electronics Co Ltd (0438.HK) and Irico Display Devices Co Ltd (600707.SS).

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- One-third of wealth management products in China maturing in the first half of the year ended up with zero or negative investment returns, with annual rates as poor as minus 10 percent.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- A netizen in eastern China's Shandong province is standing trial on charges of slander because he accused a local official of corruption in an online post.

-- Chinese appliance maker Haier Group and U.S.-based NComputing have formed a strategic partnership to provide low-cost computers to educational and government institutions around the world, which will enable Haier to expand in the U.S. market for the first time and tap other markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- About 84 percent of new graduates had found jobs as of June 10, up from 79 percent in the same period last year, despite an increase in the number of new graduates by 520,000 over last year and the negative impact of the global financial crisis on China's economic growth.

-- A total of 1.2 million foreign and domestic tourists visited Tibet in the first half of the year, up 251.6 percent from the same period last year, bringing in revenue of more than 860 million yuan. ($1=6.830 Yuan) (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)