PRESS DIGEST - China - Dec 21

BEIJING, Dec 21 (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.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- The government spent 558 billion yuan ($76 billion) on education in January-November this year, a 32.7 percent rise from a year earlier. Expenditures will be further raised next year to ensure free compulsory education in both urban and rural areas.

-- China created 11 million new jobs in the cities in the first 11 months, and the figure is set to surpass 12 million for the whole year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security said.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- The country has ample grain reserves to meet consumer demand and help stabilise prices during the coming festive period, the State Grain Administration said on Thursday amid high inflation and an expected increase in holiday spending.

-- The Communist Party's disciplinary watchdog will punish more severely officials who fail to maintain safety in production to prevent accidents in workplaces.

-- The country is facing its worst drought in a decade and it threatens even the wet, humid areas of the south, officials warned.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- A survey found that 54.47 percent of Shanghai residents think prospects are unfavourable for the city's residential property prices next year, outnumbering the 45.53 percent who said prospects were favourable.

-- China Mobile (0941.HK) has formally launched tenders for terminals using China's new high-speed wirless standard, TD-SCDMA, seeking 30,000 handsets and 10,000 data cards.

-- The government is likely to continue grain auctions as needed according to market circumstances to tame prices.

-- Pudong Development Bank (600000.SS) vice president Liu Xinyi said the bank's shareholders would decide whether it would become the core of the broad financial group which the city of Shanghai plans to form.

-- Facing financial strains on its property business, the China Overseas Holdings group has sold 144.79 million shares in Minsheng Bank (600016.SS) over the past six weeks to raise about 2.25 billion yuan, according to an exchange filing by Minsheng.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Fan Gang, a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said a downward correction in the real estate market was inevitable because economic growth would slow next year. He also said authorities were determined to prevent the formation of asset price bubbles, in the property or the stock market. ($1 = 7.37 yuan) (Compiled by Beijing Newsroom, edited by Andrew Torchia)