In December 1978, Coca-Cola signed an agreement with the Chinese government which would see them become the first international company to re-enter China following the restoration of diplomatic relations with the US. The historic agreement allowed Coca-Cola products to be sold only to Western tourists – not the local Chinese population - in the plush foreign hotels of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Just 20,000 cases were sent in the first shipment.
Since then, the company has come a long way in what is today the world's largest consumer market. But nearly 40 years into Coca-Cola's China journey, Richard Cotton, the...