A Chinese rock band hired by Puma, a leading sports lifestyle company, plays American music covers during a public marketing event at an international fashion mall in Beijing. Foreign companies hoping to do business in China often hire local musicians, celebrities and athletes to help promote their brand to the largest consumer market in the world.

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Tensions continue to ease between .

Taiwan is to open its first office in mainland China since the two sides split at the end of civil war in 1949.

The office – known as the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association’s Beijing Office – will try to encourage more Chinese tourists to visit the island.

The opening of the office is a further sign of improving cross-strait ties.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou came into office in 2008 focusing on reducing tensions between the two former rivals.

Since Mr Ma opened up Taiwan to Chinese tourists in mid-2008, the number of Chinese visitors to the island has skyrocketed.

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The photo above shows Chinese tourists leaving a duty-free shop in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan opened its first tourism office in Beijing to promote tourism and handle tourists’ problems, but will not issue visas.

Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Tension eased in the late 1980s when Taiwan allowed its citizens to visit China. Last year, some 4 million Taiwanese visited China, while 970,000 mainlanders visited Taiwan.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing along with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy attend a welcome ceremony for the opening of the Shanghai World Expo in Shanghai. The sexy Carla Bruni makes a splash everywhere she goes!

Go for more pics of Carla Bruni in Shanghai and Beijing.