The mainland’s second-largest commercial lender aims to sell 1.2 billion H shares, or at least 15 percent of the enlarged total shares.

The A-share portion – involving a similar number of shares – is under review by mainland regulators.

“The fall in Shanghai copper today was mostly due to LME copper’s fall last week. The news over the weekend including those involving Spain’s debts, China’s slowing power output and the widening of the yuan have caused investors to reevaluate last week’s China GDP numbers,” said Orient Futures derivatives director Andy Du.

The former Manchester City and Arsenal striker’s debut was eagerly anticipated Saturday after he signed a two-year contract worth 270,000 euros ($350,000) a week for the Chinese Super League side.

However, the French player’s name was absent from the team sheet for Shenhua’s opening clash against regional rivals Jiangsu Sainty of Nanjing.

Anelka’s place was taken by Australian striker Joel Griffiths. The former Beijing Guoan hitman proved his worth by scoring the equaliser in the 60th minute with a close range header, with the match ending 1-1.

“No ma’am, it isn’t legal to bring pickled capuchin eyeballs preserved in plum sauce into the country. I’m going to have to confiscate it and fine you 5000 yuan.” Yes!

“The positive sentiments are back in the market,” said Ker Chung Yang, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“The IMF is going to raise funds to tackle the debt crisis, US economic data looked good and LME copper inventories are dropping, so prices are on a bullish note.”

“As I understand it, sports is a very important part of public diplomacy,” Yao said, citing the example of Ping-Pong Diplomacy. He said he will learn from that precedent and use his influence in China and the US to boost communication, understanding and cooperation.

In April 1971, China invited the US Table Tennis Team, which was in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, to visit China. It was a significant step China made toward re-establishing Sino-US relations.

Yao said that he is thankful for the opportunity and looks forward to helping promote Shanghai’s international image.

Retiring as a professional basketball player in July after eight years in NBA, Yao now runs a restaurant, basketball club and winery, and studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Feng Guoqin, chairman of the Shanghai Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said Yao’s participation will definitely help the association.

“Yao is very popular and influential in China and abroad. His participation is a tremendous boon for promoting Shanghai in the world,” he said.Yao, who entered the NBA draft in 2002 and was an eight-time NBA All-Star, has been called China’s biggest export to the United States.

He impressed the world with his combination of height, strength, skills, sporting spirit, and humor, modesty and tolerance. Through this, he promoted the international image of the Chinese people.

He has had prominent roles as a cultural ambassador and commercial spokesman, participating in the promotion of public events such as the Shanghai World Expo. But for him, serving as the deputy chairman of the SPDA is something very different.

“I am used to influencing people with body language, you know, like playing basketball. Being a spokesman is something like that – you influence others by your words and deeds. But working with the SPDA means I’ll shoulder specific responsibilities,” he said.

Wu Jinlan, secretary-general of the SPDA, said the organization is in talks with the city of Chicago about reciprocal promotion campaigns. If the initiative is successful, Shanghai intends to undertake similar cooperative efforts with cities in Australia and Italy.

The microblog “Shanghai City” on weibo.com — a popular microblogging site similar to Twitter — will serve as a platform to publish government regulations and information of activities, as well as interactions with Internet users over issues of public concern, according to the Information Office of Shanghai Municipal Government (IOSMG), the microblog’s initiator.

Within only about 12 hours since the release of its first posting at 8:40 a.m., the microblog has accumulated more than 120,000 followers.

Vegetable prices, the selection of affordable housing, and upcoming cultural activities in Shanghai are included in the first several postings.

“Shanghai City” will become a new channel for the Shanghai municipal government to closely contact with and better serve the public as it tries to conjoin more microblog accounts by government agencies to provide much needed information, said IOSMG head Zhu Yonglei.

Census data shows a rise in the percentage of older single women over the last decade, while the percentage of older single men has fallen, according to the China Daily — which experts said might be due to increasingly choosy women unwilling to settle for men with inferior education and living standards.

Organizers said there were three women for every two men, with 6,000 tickets sold to single woman and 4,000 to men.

“These days, girls are much more self-sufficient and independent,” said Zhou Juemin, president of the Shanghai Matchmaking Association, which organized the two-day event at the weekend.

“Also, there’s a lot of work pressure in society nowadays, so many girls are busy with their jobs and perhaps tend to consider career advancement above marriage — so some of them are no longer young.”

Long queues of singles waited for their turn for five-minute chats with the opposite sex in the ultimate blind-date event.

“If your standard of living is lower than mine in every aspect, but if we can relate well to each other, I wouldn’t mind — because if we relate well, there would be good chemistry,” said 27-year-old Zue Tianwei.

“Then the issues of social order would no longer be a problem. I guess it depends on how strong my feelings are.”

Many men, for their part, said they were willing to shrug off traditional thinking that once made marrying a woman of higher educational and living standards unacceptable.

“Regarding girls who have a higher education level or standard of living, I wouldn’t mind pursuing them because this is a two-way thing,” said Li Jianxun, a 27-year-old native of central China who has lived in Shanghai for two years.

“As long as the feelings are mutual, it is still possible to interact and get to know each other.”

Hopefuls from nearby provinces travelled to Shanghai to take part, among them some who had already married and divorced.

A few, bolder than others, held up signs to distinguish themselves from the crowd. One said, “I wanted to fall in love early, but it’s already late.”

Around 3,000 parents also tagged along, with Organizers allocating a special corner for them to advertise information on their unmarried children. Some kept an eye out for suitable future in-laws.

Qi Xiong, who helped his son by taking pictures to keep track of potential matches, said he still felt that men should not look for wives with higher social status than themselves.

“Generally speaking, if you are a girl and your education level or income is too high, we’re more likely to oppose it,” he said, noting that a simple university degree was sufficient.

“A huge difference in education levels would make it difficult to communicate. If both parties begin at the same starting line, and want to achieve success in the future, they can work at it together.”