可口可乐中国发展史（节选）

    当年，可口可乐（Coca-Cola）回归中国市场带有一些启示的意味。共产党上台执政之后，外国品牌被逐出中国市场，30年后的1979年，中国经济刚刚开始对外开放。可口可乐红白相间的瓶子，在红色中国有重要的象征意义：中国宣布对外国人开放，愿意进行对外贸易，甚至愿意接触资本主义。

    此外，35年前的今天重新出现在中国的可口可乐，对于整整一代中国人而言都充满了神秘色彩。对于这款碳酸饮料和这家在中国的发展并非一帆风顺的公司而言，这是一个值得自豪的纪念日。1949年，新中国成立，可口可乐公司的灌装厂被国有化，中国国家主席毛泽东曾公开讽刺这种能产生泡沫的褐色饮料是一种资产阶级混合物。许多中国人对这种饮料的了解只限于从上一辈人那里听到的故事，或者如果他们幸运的话，可能会在所剩不多的高档酒店中看到一两瓶。

    上世纪70年代末，与中国大多数经济行业一样，汽水行业也呈现出群雄割据的局面：北京有一种叫做北冰洋（Arctic Ocean）的饮料，瓶子上有北极熊的标志，广州有一种名为珠江（Pearl River）的饮料，青岛也有当地的汽水品牌。中国汽水市场呈碎片化，监管混乱。当时，可口可乐公司开拓前苏联市场的努力以失败告终，当地市场被竞争对手百事可乐公司控制，因此，可口可乐迫切希望在这个庞大的社会主义国家打开市场。

    1976年，毛泽东逝世，邓小平登上政治舞台。不久，他宣布了对外开放政策，这提高了可口可乐重返中国市场的可能性。实际上，两国之间私下早已开始接触。可口可乐公司的计划只是其中一个环节：当时的吉米•卡特政府正在努力与中国建立外交关系。

    可口可乐最终进入曾如一潭死水般封闭的中国市场，当时，没有人能够预测到中国未来30年的迅速崛起。可口可乐公司也未预测到其可能面临的困难。在此期间，可口可乐曾经被禁售一年；不得不向文化大革命期间长大的管理者传授商业基础知识；其面对的消费者认为其标志性饮料的味道，就像中国的传统中药；此外，与其合作的政府，并不想看到它取得太大成功。本文将详细介绍可口可乐在重返中国之后，如何将中国变成其第三大市场（很快将成为其最大的市场）。

    Coca-Cola’s reentry into China was a minor revelation. In 1979, thirty years after the Communist Party’s takeover when foreign brands were kicked out, China’s economy was just starting to open. The symbolism of red and white bottles in Red China rang heavy: The country was announcing itself open to foreigners, foreign trade, and even a touch of capitalism.

    At the same time, Coke was a mystery to an entire generation of Chinese when it reappeared just over 35 years ago today. It is a proud anniversary for a soda and company that never had it easy in the country. Since the takeover in 1949, when Coke’s bottlers were nationalized, Chairman Mao Zedong had openly derided the fizzy brown drink as a bourgeois concoction. Many Chinese only knew it from tales of a previous life, or, if they were lucky, the few remaining posh hotels where one could still find a bottle or two.

    Like much of China’s economy in the late 1970s, the soda industry was provincial: Beijing had a drink called Arctic Ocean with polar bears on the bottle, Guangzhou had a Pearl River specialty, Qingdao another. The market was fragmented and largely unregulated. Coming off a lost bid for the Soviet Union, which rival Pepsi then controlled, Coca-Cola desperately wanted a piece of one colossal Communist country.

    When Deng Xiaoping rose to power following Mao’s death in 1976 and spoke of a new open-door policy, the U.S. company’s reentry appeared a lot more likely. Behind the scenes, back-channeling had already begun. Coke was only a piece of it: President Jimmy Carter’s administration was busy establishing diplomatic relations with China at the same time.

    When Coke finally broke into the once-closed economic backwater, no one could have predicted China’s three-decade rise. Nor could Coke have known just how hard things would be. Over the years, the company has been barred from selling for a year; forced to teach managers who grew up during the Cultural Revolution the basics of business; sold to consumers who said its signature drink tasted like traditional Chinese medicine; and partnered with governments who never wanted to see it succeed too much. How Coke turned China into its third biggest market (and what will surely become its largest any day now) is the story, told here in detail, of its time in the People’s Republic of China.