UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - Dec 25

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Tuesday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- China's military corporations are likely to raise more than 50 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) through initial public equity offers over the next three years as the country is encouraging foreign participation in the domestic industry.

-- China International Capital Corp and CITIC Securities (600030.SS) are the biggest stock underwriters in the country this year.

-- China's coke export prices are likely to rise again next year after the government said it would raise the coke export tax in 2008 to curb excessive overseas sales.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- A bull run in stocks has made China's securities brokerage industry the country's fastest growing sector in terms of corporate earnings this year.

-- The value of China's fund industry is expected to exceed 4 trillion yuan next year, from around 3 trillion yuan in late 2007, due to the quick development of the country's stock market.

-- Shenhua Group Corp, China's top coal producer, sold 90.12 million shares it owned in New China Life Insurance to Shanghai Baosteel Corp, the country's top steel mill.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- China's biggest listed property developer Vanke (000002.SZ) foresees more adjustment and consolidation in the country's property market in 2008 although it is still bullish on the market, its general manager Yu Liang said in an interview.

-- Chinese pipe manufacturer Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes Co (000778.SZ) plans to invest a total of 1.365 billion yuan in upgrading the company's facilities. The funds will be raised on its own and via the market.

CHINA BUSINESS NEWS

-- The recent U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has hit Western financial giants, offering good business opportunities for China Investment Corp, the country's newly established sovereign wealth fund.

SHANGHAI DAILY

-- The management of a second batch of power generating assets owned by State Grid Corp of China has been transferred to electricity producers, paving the way for an eventual sale and making the firm a pure distributor as part of an industry reform.

-- Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Sichuan Changhong Electric (600839.SS) have established an alliance to develop the market for online games on Web-linked TVs to catch the sporting game boom ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games next year, the three firms said yesterday.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- Wei Benhua, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said the administration would gradually allow the liberalisation of foreign exchange under the capital account and continue to improve its foreign exchange system in 2008.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- The report by Chief Executive Donald Tsang on the Constitutional Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is "positive, responsible and pragmatic", said members of the country's top legislature.

Their remarks came at a panel discussion during the NPC Standing Committee legislative session on Tsang's report to the top legislature on public consultation on constitutional development, and whether there is a need to amend the methods for choosing the Hong Kong chief executive and forming the Legislative Council in 2012.

-- Sinopec Group will complete the construction of a 12.5 billion yuan ($1.70 billion) refinery in Qingdao in Shandong Province by end-January, which will process 10 million tonnes of crude annually and produce 7.6 million tonnes of refined oil a year.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- Agricultural Minister Sun Zhengcai said Beijing will offer 2.5 billion yuan to subsidise hog breeders next year, the same as this year, aiming at pork production of 53 million tonnes after blue ear disease reduced pig numbers sharply this year.

-- China is losing 150 million yuan every year to expanding deserts. Desertification in China is worsening and 27 percent of the country's total land area is desert. ($1=7.347 Yuan) (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)