 | A Chinese dancer wearing a light dress braves chilly weather to perform during a retail promotion on the streets of Beijing, China, Sunday, Dec 18, 2005. Retailers are gearing up for the pre-Christmas sales promotion as Beijingers are learning to celebrate the annual gift giving festival. click to open  |
 | A Chinese worker arranges a banner on a building at the Xiushui Market in Beijing March 18, 2005. The Xiushui Market, also known as Silk Street Market, was closed in early January and will be reopened on Saturday. Surrounded by foreign embassies and luxury hotels, the market is described as the third best-known tourist destination in Beijing after the Palace Museum and the Great Wall. click to open |
 | Free internet access at a Beijing computer store attracts users of all ages on Wednesday January 20, 1999. The building renter is hoping the promotion will increase his business' traffic. click to open |
 | Life in Beijing: A Starbucks employee pours coffee beans into a grinder before the opening ceremony of the Seattle-based company's first retail coffee store in Beijing Monday, Jan. 11, 1999. [AP] click to open |
 | Life in Beijing: Local customers try out the coffee at the opening ceremony of China's first Starbucks coffee retail store in Beijing Monday, Jan. 11, 1999. click to open |
 | Life in Beijing: Pan Jun drinks a cup of coffee during the opening ceremony of China's first Starbucks coffee retail store in Beijing Monday, Jan. 11, 1999. click to open |
 | Starbucks President Howard Behar goes over details with Chinese employees at the opening ceremony of the Seattle-based company's first retail coffee store in Beijing Monday, Jan. 11, 1999. The store, located in a five-star hotel, is the first of 10 outlets planned for the Chinese capital in the next 18 months, with more in other major cities. China is the ninth market in Asia where the Seattle coffee company has opened stores. click to open |
 | A woman looks through brochures for TCL televisions in a Beijing department store Monday, Jan. 26, 2004. Chinese President Hu Jintao left Monday for a visit to France, where he is expected to sign a joint operating agreement between China's TCL and France's Thomson SA, a lofty venture that would create the world's top TV maker - with an expected annual revenue of more than euro 3 billion (US$3.5 billion). click to open |
 | U.S. Mad Cow Disease Crisis: A Chinese man shops for domestic beef product at a supermarket in Beijing, China, Thursday, Dec 25, 2003. China on Thursday banned U.S. beef imports, joining more than a dozen countries worldwide that have blocked shipments amid fears of mad cow disease. China is not a major beef importer. click to open |
 | Life in Beijing: A Chinese salesgirl for Nokia peers out of a shop near a giant replica of a Nokia mobile phone at a shopping mall in Beijing, China, Sunday, June 29, 2003. China overtook the U.S. as the largest mobile phone market in the world, with more than 200 million users. Many international mobile phone manufacturers are keen to increase their share of a market with a potential of 1.3 billion population. click to open |
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