The history of San Francisco is also the creation of 1950-60s drive-ins where you could walk to the “suburbs” of the Richmond and Sunset Districts.
Western firms have demonstrated their adaptive capacity in China in other ways such as paying workers below the minimum wage or contravening food safety regulations. Indigenous Chinese companies have barely profited from this: Their repeated attempts to imitate foreign competitors have largely proved unsustainable. The same applies to development of alternative concepts that attempt to combine local tradition and mass production. Even massive government support and emphasis on the positive medicinal effects of these products have failed.
What are the reasons? People in China are certainly interested in visiting McDonalds and Co. because of the unified standards of hygiene, the consistent quality of the food, and curiosity about Western lifestyles. There is, however, another important motivation. The advertising specifically targets the “little emperors,” the children and young people who mostly grow up without siblings because of the restrictive population policy and who manage to persuade the family to give them nearly everything money can buy. The spoiling of the younger generation is not only creating a social paradigm change, but also aggravating a previously negligible health risk in China: overweight. Ironically, this is happening at the same time as excessive thinness is being idolized.
cupblog.org/…
McDonald's is a big chain in China. They've had about 25 years to experiment with their food. Younger people especially like their hamburgers. It is said to be made with real beef patties, and it tastes authentic. They also sell good examples of metamorphosized Western Food:
- Instead of apple pie, taro pie or banana pie: Interesting experiments have been carried out. For some reason, though fresh apples are popular and grown in China, what gets sold in its place in the paper box packets is purple taro pie or banana pie.
- Green tea ice cream: They do sell vanilla ice cream, but this experimental flavor is a hit. In some areas of China, the people routinely drink green tea with a meal. They don't sell hot green tea, but this concoction works for people. Maybe they want the green tea flavor with their meal.
- Rice and congee instead of the little mashed potato cup: Many Chinese feel rice is a necessary part of a meal, so along with a hamburger (hànbǎobāo, 汉堡包), people can order rice or congee that is a kind of rice soup.
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Imported chips, cookies, canned goods, cereals, etc. can be three or four times dearer than in the US, or Australia, or wherever. And in most places, this type of food isn't available. This means it is about 10 times more expensive than similar popular equivalent local foods.
- Bag of Doritos medium size chips cost 70 RMB or 11 USD. US price is 2.50 or 3 USD.
- Breyers ice cream costs 50 USD in China compared to 5 USD in US. It is available in few cities in China.
- V8 Juice costs 68 RMB or almost 11 USD.
- Tomato sauce jarred in glass that costs over 10 USD in the China costs about 2.50 in the US.
- Medium Kellogg's boxed cereal costs 14 USD in China.
- A can of Campbells soup costs 4.70 USD in China!
www.chinahighlights.com/...
