ABSTRACT
Looming over Beijing’s choking, bumper-to-bumper traffic, every tenth building seems to sport a giant neon sign advertising American wares: Xerox, Mobil, Kinko’s, Northwest Airlines, IBM, Jeep, Gerber, even the Jolly Green Giant. American food chains and beverages are everywhere in central Beijing: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Häagen-Dazs, Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Pepsi, TCBY, Pizza Hut, and of course McDonald’s. As of June 1999, McDonald’s had opened 235 restaurants in China. Hong Kong alone now boasts 158 McDonald’s franchises, one for every 42,000 residents (compared to one for every 30,000 Americans).
