Xiao Liang, a 28-year-old engineer, celebrated the New Year by competing in a marathon. Well, sort of. Instead of flying to Xiamen, an eastern port city in Fujian province where the event was held, he attended the marathon's "online version" in Beijing, by making use of Codoon, an app for hand-held devices.

Wearing a smartwatch equipped with Codoon, Xiao started running at the same time as the runners in Xiamen. Codoon kept track of his running route and time using GPS technology.

"The app obviated the need for me to travel to Xiamen and offers a cost-efficient way to access marathon events," he said.