BEIJING - Police rescued a woman taken hostage by a man armed with knife in Wangfujing pedestrian street, downtown Beijing, Wednesday night.

The man accosted the woman at around 9:22 pm near the Beijing apm shopping center. Police rescued her at 9:57 pm.

Initial investigation showed the man was born in 1976, and was from south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. He did not know the woman in question.

Police are investigating.