Shenzhen GEM board receives over 100 applications

If there’s something that can get Chinese companies to fill paperwork on a Sunday, it’s stock market listing applications. Yesterday, the China Securities and Regulatory Commission (CSRC) began accepting applications for the Shenzhen Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) board and it has already received 108 applications (pretty good for a Sunday!). The applicants were from the new energy, materials, environment, apparel, medicine and digital information sectors, the CSRC said. If successful, the companies will face stricter disclosure rules and more limitations on stock sales, but the requirements for revenue and profits will be lower than those on the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The regulator said it will take approximately three months to review the applications. The internet is also still seeing growing numbers of new users. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of internet users grew by 40 million in the first half to reach 338 million by the end of June – that’s more than the population of the US. How many of those users are hackers is presently unknown, but one Chinese citizen is claiming responsibility for hacking the website of the Melbourne International Film Festival in response to the screening of a movie about exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer. A Chinese flag was posted on the festival’s website for 45 minutes on Saturday and English-language messages demanded that the festival organizers apologize to all Chinese people. Four Chinese films have been withdrawn from the festival in protest.