Hamleys opens its largest toy store in Beijing amid Christmas debate

Beijing

BRITISH toy retailer Hamleys opened its largest store in the world in Beijing on Saturday, just two days before Christmas as debate played out over whether the holiday should be banned in the communist country.

Christmas elves, a teddy bear parade and a curiously slender Santa marked the opening of the five-storey emporium - double the size of Hamleys' flagship London store - in the capital's Wangfujing shopping district.