UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - March 26

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 26 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Thursday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- China should be fully prepared to grapple with the economic crisis for an extended period of time, said Li Wei, deputy director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

-- China's economy will improve in the second half of the year, after the government's stimulus policies kick in, said Yao Jingyuan, chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics.

-- China Datang Corp, one of the country's five largest power generating groups and parent of Datang International Power (0991.HK)(601991.SS), has received approval to add coal mining to its core business from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. -- Shanghai Airlines 600951.SS Chairman Zhou Chi reiterated he had not had any contact with the government or the airline's controlling shareholder about a possible merger with China Eastern Airlines (0670.HK) (600115.SS), long a subject of market speculation, and added that objectively speaking it would be impossible to discuss a merger before the carriers had completed capital injections from the government in late May or early June.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Leading Chinese appliance and TV maker TCL Corp 000100.SZ said its net profit in 2008 surged 26.6 percent to 501 million yuan ($73.4 million).

-- The city of Rizhao in the eastern province of Shandong plans to set up China's first iron ore trading centre, to take advantage of Rizhao Port (600017.SS), the country's top iron ore port.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- The Shanghai city government said there has been no final decision on a proposed Disney (DIS.N) theme park project.

-- The State Council, China's cabinet, has approved a plan to turn Shanghai into an international financial and shipping centre by 2020.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- Chinese banks' non-performing loans declined by 17.5 billion yuan ($2.56 billion) from the beginning of this year to 1.53 trillion yuan at the end of February, or 4.5 percent of all outstanding loans on average, China's banking regulator said.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- Several high-ranking French officials will visit China next month to repair the two country's relations, which soured after the French President met the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, in December.