The report comes as the World Economic Forum continues to meet in Dalian, China.
The American retail colossus also has stores in the north-east's other provincial capitals as well as in Dalian.
Ms. Gu and Mr. Devillers were both consulting partners for Horas Consultancy, a company that advised businesses investing in Dalian and elsewhere in China in the 1990s, according to that firm's publicity material.
Apple's products are now being snapped up in Delhi and Dalian just as in Dublin and Dallas.
ECONOMIST: The revolution that Steve Jobs led is only just beginning
They are Dalian in China, Naga in the Philippines, Surat in India and Bandung in Indonesia.
Vale docked the first of the fleet, the Berge Everest, at China's Port of Dalian in late December, with a delivery of 350, 000 tons of iron ore.
Foreign firms should establish long-term interaction with leading Chinese faculty at Chinese universities, from top-rated Beijing University to Tsinghua to Fudan (in Shanghai) to other colleges in Tianjin, Dalian, Nanjing, Wuhan, Xiamen and Guangdong.
Morgan Asset Management, for example, lost a high-end apartment building in the Chinese city of Dalian to foreclosure last summer after sluggish sales put the firm in violation of loan covenants.
The first and only Valemax allowed into China, the 380, 000-tonne Berge Everest, docked at Dalian port in December last year.
Born in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, Du graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London.
FORBES: 25 Influential Chinese In Global Fashion -- 2010 (Full List)
The U.S. track team will train in China ahead of the games, in the northeastern city of Dalian, where the air is cleaner.
Dalian University of Technology, the home of the researchers featured in the NY Times article, conducts both civilian and defense related research.
The Frenchman, who was married to a woman from Dalian for several years, shared a residential address with Ms. Gu in the southern British city of Bournemouth from 2000 to 2003, according to British public records.
应用推荐