Bounce only opened on 29 September, but ping pong fever started spreading fast and furiously around the capital in August with the arrival of Ping, an underground ping pong bar and kitchen in Earls Court.

BBC: Ping pong bounces back in London

Unable to buy out its partner, it is pursuing local incorporation, something only recently allowed, and investments in Bank of Shanghai and Ping An, an insurance firm.

ECONOMIST: Joint ventures in China

That's because over half the investment portfolios of both Ping An and China Life are in bonds and other fixed-income assets, while only 10% is in equities.

FORBES: China's Insurers On The Upswing

In the late summer of 2007, a fifty-year-old former barber named Siu Yun Ping began making regular visits from his village, in Hong Kong, to the city of Macau, the only Chinese territory where it is legal to gamble in a casino.

NEWYORKER: The God of Gamblers