Apple Inc chief executive officer Tim Cook posted a video of himself in Shanghai on March 20, a day before the grand opening of a new store in the city’s central district.

Joined on a walk around China’s financial and commercial hub by Chinese actor Zheng Kai, Cook is shown crossing a bridge near the historic Bund and having xiaolongbao in a local restaurant. The Weibo post, under his official account, included Cook saying “hello” in a Shanghai dialect and was seen by half a million people within minutes of being posted.

Cook, who a year ago called Apple’s relationship with China “symbiotic”, appears to be in Shanghai to lend his imprimatur to the opening of Apple Jingan, the company’s eighth store in the city. The expansion in China adds to Apple’s biggest retail network outside the US and is part of a broader effort to grow and revitalise the company’s brick-and-mortar outlets.

Born and raised in Shanghai, Zheng is one of China’s most famous TV and movie stars. He recently starred in Blossoms Shanghai, a TV show aired on Tencent Holdings Ltd’s video streaming service.

 - Bloomberg