China’s energy heavyweights Sinopec Corp and PetroChina have upgraded their outlook on the country’s shale gas industry and turned upbeat on shale gas, citing steadily declining costs, but stopped short of predicting a near-term boom. Charlie Zhu finds out more

China’s foreign investment mix is changing, with portfolio investors buying more stocks but FDI falling to a two-year low on a slowing economy, rising business costs and anti-monopoly probes and crackdowns on foreign firms. Pete Sweeney reports

Chinese antitrust officials have met with their South Korean counterparts to discuss violations by U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, with Beijing reaching out to regulators overseas to complete a case that could result in record fines at home. Michael Martina and Se Young Lee report

“Made in China” will be a less frequent sight in U.S. clothing stores if the United States has its way in a new trade pact negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations, says Krista Hughes

Offshore law firms are changing with the times, evolving to meet the needs of global businesses and the flow of capital that is both easier but also much more regulated. And although they still differentiate themselves from their onshore peers, some of them are offering a greater suite of services while others are reaching further afield by setting up offices in some of the world’s busiest financial services, finds Chris Horton

China’s crackdown on price-fixing and its increasing regulatory clout over international mergers and acquisitions is creating a hot new commodity in its legal industry: antitrust lawyers. Kanishk Verghese reports, with additional input from Denny Thomas of Reuters.

Alibaba’s coming U.S. initial public offering will probably value the Chinese e-commerce firm at more than $100 billion. But the question that a U.S. congressional commission has raised is whether shareholders actually own the business. Richard Beales of Reuters Breakingviews finds out more on why Alibaba’s coming IPO is a case study in the U.S.-China legal gulf.

Shaken by a fraud investigation into metal financing in Qingdao, the world's seventh-busiest port, banks and trading houses have been made painfully aware of the risks they face storing commodities in China's sprawling warehouse sector. Melanie Burton and Fayen Wong of Reuters report

New arbitration rules, tailored for the newly launched Shanghai FTZ and consistent with international standards, have taken effect since May this year. Although it will be some time before Shanghai can develop itself in a holistic manner, experts believe the new rules will enable it to build itself into Asia’s centre for arbitration despite competition from Hong Kong and Singapore. Chen Dujuan talks to lawyers on the highlights and effects of the rules on China’s legal environment.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) has recently been seeing increasing defaults and bad loans, which have further increased the credit risk for the region, especially for medium- and small-sized enterprises. Chen Dujuan talks to lawyers and in-house counsel of local companies about their views on the industrial trends in the region and the new opportunities for law firms brought in by these industrial changes.