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China Watch: News You Need Now

Brittany Umar

Everyone wants to know about China. It's one of the most talked-about emerging markets right now -- with extreme volatility, the 2008 Olympics approaching, a massive population and a growing middle class, the Chinese market is one to watch. With that in mind -- we are bringing you a new series, "China Watch," where we are keeping our eyes on all things China.

In each installment, I interview research associate and RealMoney.com contributor Patrick Schultz, who offers knowledgeable insight on stocks, theories and trends in the country and the market. We recently kicked things off and will be bringing you even more every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Saturdays will be our Mail Bag installments -- where we answer questions and discuss topics readers send to us. That's right -- email myself or Patrick with questions, suggestions and comments any time -- and maybe yours will be the one we discuss on the next China Watch.

For now, check out some of our most popular videos. They include:

At such an ugly time in the market, here we discussed four large liquid stocks that investors should have an eye on: Baidu(BIDU - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Focus Media(FMCN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Suntech Power(STP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and PetroChina(PTR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). Patrick cautions investors that now is not the time to be aggressively buying stocks, although there is opportunity to be found.

We discuss iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25(FXI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) -- an ETF of the 25 largest Chinese companies that Patrick believes is a good mix -- and a good barometer of how the market is doing. When it comes to Baidu, Patrick believes it could go down further, so he warns against jumping on it just yet. Patrick recommended spreading your purchases out in Focus Media Holding and SunTech Power Holdings, and holding off for the time being on PetroChina.

Here, we discussed Merrill Lynch's(MER - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) big downgrade of Trina Solar(TSL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) from buy to sell. Patrick gives insight on concerns over polysilicon and Trina Solar's focus on it. Patrick says look to companies that stand to benefit most from polysilicon prices. Patrick says First Solar(FSLR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) always does well as it's one of the few companies that does not use polysilicon in its solar panels, and he also likes SunTech Power and SunPower(SPWR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Patrick says spread out your scales in the "Google(GOOG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) of China" -- don't buy it all at once. This way you won't get really hurt when the market turns on you. He says there's too much negativity in the market to buy it all at once, even though the company is doing really well.

Upon speculation that the Chinese government is planning to restructure the country's entire telecom industry -- we discuss China Unicom(CHU - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), China Telecom(CHA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and China Mobile(CHL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). Patrick warns to be careful, as no one knows what the real plan will be until it is finalized, but he does emphasize one name to keep an eye on.