Custom Web portals that offer personalized products and DIY tools are gaining popularity among Chinese Internet users.

According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security’s (MOLSS) latest statistics on the supply and demand of labor in the second quarter of 2006, China continues to suffer a shortage of middle and senior technical personnel, among which senior engineers and senior technicians are in the highest demand. On average, every senior engineer faces 2.08 positions and every senior technician 1.96. What factors contribute to this ongoing shortage of technical skills in a country known as a global manufacturing hub?

Lingering human resource constraints endangered China’s long-term development in the recent past. As China opens up to the rest of the world economy prompting social and economic reforms, there is a consequent widening of human resource options for both foreign and domestic companies.

Telecommunications equipment giant Motorola is seeking opportunities for investment in China after making the country its global base for production and research, People’s Daily reported.

China’s export structure has undergone rapid changes from over-reliance on cheap products to high-tech products that can make much more profit, FTChinese.com reported.

Cheap labour and low start-up costs attract foreign firms to establish new operations in Chengdu but the city still has a lot to do to bridge the gap with East China, The Standard reported.

Foreign enterprises still dominate international trade in Mainland, according to the top 500 import and export ranking as well as top 200 export ranking released by Ministry of Commerce on July 13, as reported by Shanghai Securities Journal.

Senior Chinese official  has urged the United States to give up its "cold war mentality" and take constructive measures to promote Sino-US trade relations, instead of contradicting past agreements.

China's first domestic sector fund is to be set up in Tianjin, China Business Daily reports. The "Bohai Sector Development Fund" is worth around 20 billion yuan (US$2.47 billion), and will be active primarily in the high-tech industry in Tianjin's Binhai New District. On 29 October, Tianjin mayor Dai Xianglong announced at the opening of the China Finance Annual Meeting that the fund had received authorization from the State Council, and that the associated Bohai Bank was preparing to begin operations as well.