Commuters wearing face masks were seen on the streets and subways of major cities Wednesday despite the early summer heat, saying they have grown more cautious of the A(H1N1) flu after seeing confirmed cases so close to home.

“The government is reacting quickly, but I’m still worried about the spread of the virus inside trains and planes,” said a middle-aged woman Li, who wore a large face mask and dark sunglasses as she left a subway station in Beijing.

The mainland quarantined several hundred people Wednesday who had been in contact with two Chinese men confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Sun Naiqing, a veteran Beijing cabbie, doesn’t dare take passengers from the airport.

“I’d rather stay downtown, and I don’t take passengers with masks and I don’t turn on the air-con,” he said at his wheel. “The scene of travelers wearing masks is scary.”

Jia Peng, spokesman for the Beijing subway, downplayed worries for passengers Wednesday and promised the metro will disinfect trains and keep the air inside carriages clean.

Lu, a 19-year-old overseas student who had contracted the virus, traveled from Canada to his hometown in Shandong province and stayed at a crowded hotel before setting foot on several tourist sites, including the Great Wall and the bar district near Houhai in the capital.

Xu Fei, a middle-aged man in casual clothing and sandals, walked out of the tightly watched hotel where the infected student stayed Wednesday, seemingly not worried about his lack of freedom. The friends who brought him bananas and French fries also believed the observation will end within a few days.

Mr Su, 50, arrived from a nearby residential building. He was told by disease control experts at the scene that the flu virus will not contaminate his neighborhood.

The public Wednesday heatedly debated whether it was right for the 19-year-old man to expose potential victims to the virus.

“Now is the peak time for overseas students returning to China. They should be more thoughtful. I suggest a self-quarantine of a week,” wrote “Maomao Donkey” on the popular Chinese forum Tianya.cn.

But Xue Lan, a public policy and management expert at Tsinghua University, said it is understandable for people to stick to their plans if they don’t detect any symptoms.

“It is quite difficult for China, which takes in thousands of travelers from international cities, to keep the country free of the imported virus,” he said. “We should just ask each traveler to be responsible and report to related personnel if they detect flu-related illness.”

SHANGHAI, May 13 – Plans to allow foreign companies to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange have already begun as well as the development of an international board.

The local government has concluded an agreement with Britain that aims to improve the stock market. In a press statement of the agreement: ?China agrees to allow qualified foreign companies, including United Kingdom companies, to list on its stock exchange through issuing shares or depository receipts in accordance with relevant prudential regulations.?

The deal will allow global British companies like HSBC to offer its shares in Shanghai. HSBC wants to be the first foreign bank to list in Shanghai to strengthen its brand and to attract more funds for its growth in the Chinese mainland market.

The plan to have foreign companies listed in the Shanghai stockmarket already began two years ago when China was considering to allow foreign companies to issue yuan shares to help the mainland stock market which was still in its infancy. But then plans were shelved over fears of a stock glut.

Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Bank and the Bank of East Asia are among the companies who have publicly expressed interest in listing in Shanghai. Foreign companies listing in Shanghai will have a hard time converting fuds from their mainland listings and repatriating the money back because the yuan is currently not fully convertible.

?Apparently, the program was revived,?a Beijing-based brokerage executive close to the China Securities Regulatory Commission told Shanghai Daily. ?Preparatory work will be paced up, with the initial arrangement likely to be settled by year end.?

May 13 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Solar power

Wang Zhongying, assistant director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that China plans to boost its solar power capacity to 10?0 GW by 2020. Initially, the country planned to have 300 MW by 2010 and 1,800 MW by 2020.

Swiss solar energy group 3S Industries AG announced last Monday it is expanding its presence in Asia, as part of an international growth strategy. The company has set up an office in Kunshan, eastern China, and subsidiaries in Singapore and Hong Kong. The expansion is expected to enable the company to provide customer-oriented sales of its automatic string soldering machines, laminating lines, testers and solar modules in the Asian growth markets.

Suntech Power Holdings has joined the PV CYCLE association which is engaged in establishing voluntary take-back and recycling programmes for end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) modules.
Air transport

China Southern Airlines has obtained RMB50 billion in loans and lease financing from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China.

Bank of Communications and China Southern Airlines have inked an agreement, under which China Southern will obtain a RMB15 billion credit line. The money will be used for aircraft financing and leasing as well as discounted-bill financing.

Hainan Airlines has reduced its order of ERJ-145 aircraft from Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry Company to 25, down from 50.

The international airport of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, saw its passenger volume reach 284,800 person times in the first quarter of 2009, 38.9 percent more than the same period last year. Domestic mail and cargo volume was 3,219.8 tons, an increase of 18 percent.

Korean Air plans to start flying from Seoul to Xi?an and from Seoul to Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang at the end of May.

Wind power

China Windpower Group Limited has inked a contract with Liaoning Energy, under which the two parties will establish joint ventures to create wind power plant projects in China. Initially, the JVs will aim at 50 MW of installed capacity. Each of them will start with RMB500 million intended for investments and RMB100 million as registered capital.