Photo: Martial arts and Taoist philosophy master Wang Lin with Li Shuangjiang
Source: Caijing

July 23, 2013
Translated by Tian Shaohui and Pang Lei

Stories that got top billing on China's major web portals on Tuesday morning include coverage of the deadly earthquake that struck Gansu province yesterday (China Daily) and more revelations (Caixin) about the plight of a man who detonated an explosive at Beijing's capital airport on Saturday evening.

There's also high-profile coverage of a reporter from the Beijing News being threatened by a "martial arts and Taoist philosophy master" (China Daily)

In terms of international news, Chinese media are giving plenty of coverage to the birth of a son to Prince William and Kate Middleton and planned "Global Anti-China Protests"

Keep reading below for a translated digests of some of the other stories being reported by mainland Chinese media outlets today.

Police Visit Shanghai Office of British-Swedish Drug Company
Beijing Times
The Shanghai offices of AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company, were visited by police last Friday, in what appears to be a widening of a probe into the conduct of personnel at drug firms operating in China. The police took away a sales representative, according to Sun Xiaoyun (孙晓云), the manager of AstraZeneca China's public relations department. Sun told journalists that the employee being taken away by police has nothing at all to do with the company. The visit occured at the same time as a high-profile investigation into employees of GlaxoSmithKline's China subsidiary is taking place.
Original article: [Chinese]

Loans to Industries with Over Capacity Halted
National Business Daily
According to executives at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, regulatory agencies have issued a internal directive that strictly prohibits the issuance of new loans to industries with over capacity, including coal, cement, steel, textiles (synthetic fiber), electrolytic aluminum and smelting iron. Some banks in Beijing have already stopped making new loans to firms operating in the steel and cement industries. Companies operating in these sectors have also had other financing channels such as transferred debt and medium-term notes closed to them, according to sources. The report states that enterprises that actively halt production will have their interest rates lowered or be offered assistance to transfer to other industries.
Original article: [Chinese]

Yuan Funds for Foreign Exchange Decline for First Time in 6 Months
China Securities Daily
China's total yuan funds outstanding for foreign exchange reached 27.39 trillion yuan in June, 41.2 billion yuan less than in May, according to statistics released by the Central Bank of China yesterday. This is the first time since November 2012 that there were net sales of foreign exchange, suggesting net capital outflows from the country. Analysts say weaker trade figures, the possibility of the US Federal Reserve pulling back from a third round of quantitative easing and less confidence that the RMB will continue to appreciate all helped contribute to the capital outflow.
Original article: [Chinese]

Tax Office Mulling Consumption Tax Reform
China Business News
The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) is reportedly thinking about reforming the scope and collection methods of
China's consumption tax. Various experts have urged tax authorities to merge the "special consumption tax" and vehicle purchase tax with the consumption tax and return more of the revenue raised by the tax to local government. As part of the SAT's own research into reforming the consumption tax, there is discussion of imposing the tax on retail purchases rather than when an item is manufactured, according to Xu Shanda (许善达), former deputy director general of State Administration of Taxation. Other reforms being considered include expanding the scope of what is taxes, the rate at which the tax is levied.
Original article: [Chinese]

Users Complain About Widespread Wechat Outage Yesterday
Beijing News
Mobile phone users in Beijing, Guangzhou and some other parts of China had trouble accessing the popular social media platform Wechat - or Weixin as it is known in Chinese - yesterday morning, some for as long as six hours. Some users complained that the outage affected their work and a few companies also expressed concern about the impact on their revenue. Tencent said the outage was caused when a cable was cut during road works.
Original article: [Chinese]