Chinese solar ADRs are extremely volatile. As the following summary table reveals, shares of Solarfun Power (SOLF) are up 47% just in August yet investors bought into the company on January 2nd. are down 45% year-to-date (YTD). And Solarfun is no exception. All Chinese solar ADRs but Canadian Solar (CSIQ) are trading way below their January 2, 2008 level turning this hot sector of 2007 into disaster in 2008.

Yanzhou Coal (NYSE:YZC), China's third largest coal producer after China Shenhua energy (HKEx:1088) and China Coal (HKEx:1898), reported 2008 first six months report. (Details of the original press release is here.) Strong showing helped lift the price of Yanzhou ADRs 5.35% in the last five trading days as the markets were expecting solid numbers. See related chart here. Highlights and Outlook:

China's largest independent electricity provider, Huaneng Power (NYSE:HNP), announced an increase of on-grid tariffs by Yuan22.51/MWh or 5.7% as of August 20, 2008. This increase is the second in 2008 aimed at compensating for high coal prices. China is potentially facing one of the worst power shortages in years, similar to 2004, when brown outs were rampant. The government has just ordered coal exporters to cut back on exports - so far it was an oral note. The fact of the matter is that since coal prices has been capped to keep prices low domestically, Chinese coal miners preferred to sell coal on the spot market instead. The result is low coal inventory level at power producers, potentially threatening stable power supply.

Datang Power Co. (0991.HK), a Hong-Kong listed Chinese power generator, agreed to invest 580,000,000 yuan or $84.5 million, into a thermal power plant to produce heating for Zhang Jia Kou Gaoxin District located in Hebei Province, China. Details of the transaction are below.

The9 Ltd is the leading online game operator and developer in China. Its main revenue drivers are affiliates operates licensed MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-play games) consisting World of Warcraft (WoW), Soul of Ultimate Nation (SUN), and Granado Espada (GE). During Q2 of FY2008, the company achieved excellent financial results due to the rising revenue from WoW and SUN. It also spent huge efforts in R&D and international affiliation. However, the results of those efforts are not foreseeable in the near future. The9’s limitation in self-developed game pipelines meant the company may suffer threats from its competitors such as Shanda and Netease. Furthermore, each game has its life cycle, The9’s over reliance on WoW may limit its future earning ability.

Here is a snapshot of today's big movers from the Chinese ADR universe. Focus Media Holdings defies overall trend, the DJIA lost almost 200 points today already, helped by better than expected 2008 Q2 results and strong Q3 outlook. Focus Media Holding shares jump on Q3 outlook. The stock is trading up $2.76 or 10.51% today.

In one hand, windfall tax load will be heavier for upstream companies because of soaring world oil price. On the other hand, domestic retail price increase is actually a "tiny" compensation and can not offset the loss of the downstream activities. Since consumer price index (CPI) remains high, government is facing pressure to tame inflation. I personally guess another retail price increase will probably not happen in a short run, which makes a conservative forecast for the downsteamers. Furthermore, the government is considering the cancellation of compensation for crude oil tariff deduction negatively effecting both Sinopec (SNP) and Petrochina (PTR).

Proposed merger of China Unicom Limited (CHU) and China Netcom group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd. by way of a scheme of arrangement of CN under section 166 of the Hong Kong companies ordinance
Notice of court meeting
Notice of extraordinary general meeting
Proxy Forms

Shares of Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) jumped 6.42% in Hong Kong trading - related chart is here. The company was quick to announce in a public statement that there is no company specific events in the background that would have prompted such drastic share price change. See related press release below.

China Unicom (CHU) and China Netcom (CN) submitted a document of proposed merger of the two to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. According to the document, last day of trading for China Netcom ADRs will be October 6, 2008 followed by a complete withdrawal of CN ADRs from the NYSE listing as of October 15, 2008. China Netcom as we know it will cease to exist while China Unicom will get a new name. The document lays out a clear timetable of events. What's not in the document but is very important is this: CN's fixed network with 109 million strong subscriber base will get a mobile phone arm - CHU's GSM network. This is the better one of CHU not just by subscriber numbers but by dynamics, too. While CHU's GSM network boosts 125 million subscribers and is growing at a rate of 1.1 million a month, CHU's CDMA network - soon to join China Telecom - counts only 43 million subscribers with a growth rate of 0.4 million a month.