This Day, That Year

Editor’s Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

Since Coca-Cola entered China in 1978, the first company from the United States, unimaginable changes have taken place in Chinese drinking habits in the past four decades.

At first the “luxury” drink was sold only at the Friendship Store and hotels in Beijing for foreigners.

But since the 1990s, foreign beverage giants have dominated the Chinese market. It caused some of the major Chinese brands, such as Beijing’s Beibingyang and Chongqing’s Tianfu Cola, to almost disappear from store shelves.

In recent years, the old brands are regaining the market.

The iconic Tianfu Cola, which once had a 75 percent market penetration, relaunched in 2016. In addi- tion to its classic colas, the company has debuted fruit juices and protein beverages.

In 2011, Beibingyang revived its bestselling orange soda. The brand, launched in 1936, dominated the Chinese market in the 1980s.

The soda has an ultralow sugar content, which helps in marketing the product, which is generally sold in convenience stores.

As one of the world’s major beverage markets, annual consumption of nonalcoholic beverages in China amounted to approximately 88 million metric tons in 2016, and it is expected to reach 104 million tons by 2021, according to data portal Statista.