CONNECTING TIANJIN: Hainan Airlines Co. and its parent HNA Group have teamed up with the Tianjin Municipal Government to inaugurate Tianjin Aviation Ltd. in a bid to help build a fast air travel network in Tianjin (LIU HAIFENG)

Boosting Biological Industry

The State Council recently announced detailed measures to bolster the biological industry, including spurring several key fields of the business, encouraging technology innovation, attracting talent and providing funding support.

The key fields of the modern biological industry include bio-medicine, bio-agriculture, bio-energy, bio-products and biological environmental protection technology, according to the announcement.

The new measures aim to foster the business as a pillar industry in high technology and a booming strategic industry in China, said the State Council.

Banking in New York

China Construction Bank Corp. (CCB), the second biggest lender in China, recently opened its first branch in New York, marking a significant step on its path to going global.

The branch will be engaged in wholesale banking activities, including lending, wholesale deposits, trade finance and U.S. dollar clearing, CCB said in a statement.

It will further extend the bank's global presence and significantly improve its ability to provide worldwide services to global customers, CCB Chairman Guo Shuqing said at the opening ceremony.

The branch will also enable CCB to better facilitate China-U.S. economic and trade investment and financial cooperation, he added.

Eyeing China

The U.S. Internet Titan Yahoo! Inc. announced on June 9 that it has opened a global research and development center in Beijing in a bid to tap into China's deep pool of engineers and scientists.

The center will focus on search engines, advertising, cloud computing and other personal Internet tools and technologies, senior official Jeff Kinder said in a statement.

It will operate independently from the Alibaba Group, which took over Yahoo's operations in China in 2005. The amount of investment in the facility remains unclear.

It is another example of Yahoo's long-term commitment to engaging with the Chinese technology community, Chief Technology Officer Aristotle Balogh said.

Beer Deal

Tsingtao Beer Co. Ltd., China's second largest brewer, recently announced it would pay 250 million yuan ($36.7 million) to take over Jinan Beer Group Co. Both companies are based in east coastal Shandong Province.

Tsingtao Beer said it had inked a deal with Shandong Commercial Group to buy its subsidiary, which has an annual beer output of 300,000 kl. Under the deal, Tsingtao Beer will buy Jinan Beer's brand and its sales channel while the Shandong Commercial Group will set up a new entity to retain Jinan Beer's staff and factories.

Analysts believe the purchase will increase Tsingtao Beer's market share in Shandong to 80 percent.

Pan-Pearl River Delta Trade Fair

The Fifth Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Economic and Trade Fair opened on June 9 in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The fair is aimed at facilitating further economic cooperation within the region and restoring growth prospects at a time when the nationwide downturn is slowing its economic growth.

Since 2004, the fair has been the site of a number of deals worth more than 1.6 trillion yuan ($235.3 billion).