At a time when some are looking to the Chinese market to find a way out of the financial crisis, others are tapping into Chinese culture for inspiration.

The company behind a leading online multiplayer role-playing game, World of Warcraft, on Tuesday globally released its fourth expansion pack - Mists of Pandaria - at a time when its number of subscribers is shrinking.

The company's latest bet is an enigmatic type of character, the Pandaren - a humanoid race resembling pandas.