3. INVESTMENTS

Long-term investments

The Company’s carrying amount of cost method investments was RMB389,630 and RMB414,367 (US$65,932) as of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012, respectively. The Company’s carrying amount of equity method investments was RMB344,730 and RMB173,716 (US$27,641) as of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012, respectively. The Company’s carrying amount of long-term held-to-maturity investments was nil and RMB505,473 (US$80,427) as of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012, respectively.

Short-term investments

As of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012, short-term investments included (i) fixed-rate and adjustable-rate products in commercial banks in the amount of RMB9,948,896 and RMB15,374,961 (US$2,446,372), respectively, and (ii) available-for-sale debt securities with fixed-rate and adjustable rates in the amount of RMB102,682 and RMB3,338,196 (US$531,154 ), respectively.

During the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2011 and 2012, the Company recorded short-term investment gains of RMB49,383 and RMB504,566 (US$80,284) in earnings, respectively. No gross realized gain or loss from the sales of available-for-sale securities was recorded in each of the nine-month periods.

Investments classified as held-to-maturity securities and available-for-sale securities as of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012 were as follows:


	As of December 31, 2011
	Amortized cost		Gross unrecognized holding gains		Gross unrecognized holding losses			Gross unrealized gains		Fair value
	RMB		RMB		RMB			RMB		RMB
Short-term investments
Held-to-maturity securities
Fixed-rate investments		9,848,848		10,504		(25,077	)		—		9,834,275
Adjustable-rate investments		100,048		—		(21	)		—		100,027

Available-for-sale securities
Adjustable-rate investments		102,637		—		—			45		102,682


	As of September 30, 2012
	Amortized cost		Gross unrecognized holding gains		Gross unrecognized holding losses			Gross unrealized gains		Fair value		Fair value
	RMB		RMB		RMB			RMB		RMB		US$
Short-term investments
Held-to-maturity securities
Fixed-rate investments		14,504,574		40,809		(26,290	)		—		14,519,093		2,310,192
Adjustable-rate investments		870,387		1,485		—			—		871,872		138,727

Available-for-sale securities
Fixed-rate investments		250,040		—		—			—		250,040		39,785
Adjustable-rate investments		3,076,361		—		—			11,795		3,088,156		491,369
Long-term investments
Fixed-rate held-to-maturity investments		505,473		1,457		—			—		506,930		80,660

Held-to-maturity securities are stated at amortized cost. The fair values of held-to-maturity securities and available-for-sale securities are determined based on a discounted cash flow model using the discount curve of market interest rates.

The long-term held-to-maturity investments mature in May 2014 and August 2014 in accordance with their contract terms.