Hong Kong companies operating factories in Hong Kong or Guangdong Province in the Chinese mainland may apply for funding support under a new scheme to promote cleaner manufacturing.

Chinese electronics and home appliances retailer Gome announced that in response to the Chinese government's energy-saving appliances subsidy policy, the company will launch a CNY1 billion special fund to support the implementation of this policy.

Chinese social networking website Renren.com has announced that it will launch an interest-free housing scheme, and employees can apply for loans of between CNY200,000 and CNY400,000.

Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has announced plans to launch a CNY3 billion housing loan scheme for its employees and a CNY500 million education fund to solve the preschool and primary education problems of children of its employees.

From 2010, each HIV/AIDS affected child in Xinjiang will receive CNY600 living subsidies every month.

Chinese e-commerce and auction website Taobao.com has launched an initiative based on TaobaoOpenPlatform to provide funds to support software developers in China.

China's Ministry of Education has asked each of the Chinese regions to be responsible for offering a state-subsidized loan to students whose permanent residence is in their region and who have been admitted to university this year.