BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 29 (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 new housing sales are expected to reach a record high of 4.5 trillion yuan ($660 billion) in 2009, accounting for 13 percent of the country’s forecast gross domestic product (GDP) for the year.
-- Experts expect the pace of China's new share issues to slow down early next year after huge supplies dampened sentiment towards the stock market .SSEC over the past several weeks.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
-- State-owned and institutional shares worth 5.84 trillion yuan will be floated freely next year after lock-up periods, making China’s stock market nearly all freely traded after key reforms over the past few years.
-- An official clampdown on speculation in the property market has kept many home buyers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou on the sidelines.
CHINA BUSINESS NEWS
-- Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered STAN.L has become the first foreign bank in China to open yuan CNY=CFXS settlement services for overseas companies.
-- China’s banking industry is expected to see earnings rising 14 percent in 2009 from 2008.
SECURITIES TIMES
-- Xuzhou Construction Machinery Science & Technology Co 000425.SZ, the listed unit of China's biggest construction equipment maker, said it would raise 5 billion yuan in a private placement of shares for expansion and technical upgrading.
-- A commentary criticises the decision by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to ban insurance companies from trading shares listed on China’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext market.
FINANCIAL NEWS
-- China will step up reforms of rural financial institutions and launch new financial products for rural markets as part of efforts to boost the rural eocnomy.
-- Li Dongrong, assistant governor of the People’s Bank of China, urged banks to increase loans to companies involved in agricultural production and improve financial services during a visit to Hainan province.
CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)
-- China plans to launch Chang’e-2, the country’s second lunar probe, at the end of 2010. The design and production of Chang’e-2 is complete and the lunar orbiter is undergoing ground tests, the State Administration of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense said in a news release.
-- Auditors found 234.7 billion yuan ($34.4 billion) worth of misused funds from January to November, with 67 government officials and 164 related people handed over to disciplinary or judicial authorities, according to the National Audit Office.
-- China is accelerating the relocation of 330,000 people as the colossal South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project goes into high gear next year. A record 48 billion yuan ($7 billion) will also be invested in more than 70 new subsidiary projects, more than the sum of China’s total investments in the project during the past seven years.
PEOPLE’S DAILY
-- The government will continue to step up efforts to ensure agricultural production, create more jobs for rural labourers and speed up construction of rural infrastructure, according to the Central Conference on Rural Work.
- Construction of the first phase of a nuclear project in the coastal area of Shandong province has started. The first phase includes two units each with an installed capacity of 1.25 gigawatts and will generate 17.5 billion kwh of electricity a year after completion in 2014 and 2015.
Harvard University
The Chinese economy is likely to overtop the Japanese economy and become the second largest in the world. 

Li Daokui, Director of the Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) at the Tsinghua University, states that there is no doubt about what the numbers or the statistics show. China's GDP growth was 9.6% in 2008. Despite predictions about China's GDP being at around 8.6% to 9%, it rose to 9.6%, as stated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected previously that China will overtake Japan soon since the latter's GDP dropped this year.

“The big underlying factor propelling China’s growth is the continued migration of people from the agricultural sector to the more modern economy—industry and services,” said economist David Cohen. 

In 2007 China became the third largest economy in the world when it overtook Germany. In 2009, the economic stimulus program assisted China in attaining 8% growth.