However, there was disappointment for Liverpool light-flyweight Tommy Stubbs, who was comfortably beaten 8-1 by Belfast's Beijing bronze medallist Paddy Barnes.

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Yet, most China consumer observers agree that the majority of luxury consumption happens outside of the so-called tier-1 cities of Shanghai and Beijing.

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The 1, 428-mile railway connects Beijing with Guangzhou, halving the travel time between the two cities.

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But the potential seemed great since executive headhunting only amounts to 1%-2% of all recruiting in Beijing and, "we had a feeling that Internet recruiting would become a new medium, " he says.

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It is on the threshold of the fast-growing economies of Asia - 9, 000km from Moscow but just 1, 300km from Beijing.

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Options implied volatility on the Beijing-based company increased 11.2% to 47.03% as of 1:00pm in New York, with overall options volume on the stock exceeding 99, 930 contracts.

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But as investors returned after a three-session holiday, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.7% after Beijing raised the amount foreigners would be allowed to invest in financial markets.

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For almost anyone selling anything, the Beijing Olympics are a chance to reach 1.3 billion people in an economy with double-digit growth, not to mention billions more watching around the world.

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