To this end, COFCO has written a special report that expounds the following five reasons: 1. Coca-Cola is a beverage and is famous because of the success of sales. In particular, Americans drink this kind of thing all over the world, and the reform and opening up foreigners have come a lot, and it has become a must-have drink, and we should meet this need. 2. Coca-Cola uses our Chinese cinnamon oil. There are Chinese ingredients in it. 3. We have not yet mastered the technology of canning and bottling soft drink production, and the introduction of this facility will contribute to technological progress. 4. We spend $300,000 a year on juice concentrate, but our profit is 2 to 3 times more than that $300,000. 5. We are limited to setting up factories in Beijing, not in other places, and we also have control over them. The state stipulates in policy that the production volume of Coca-Cola cannot exceed 5% of China's total beverage output, and the approval procedures are handled before the establishment of the factory.

It was through this explanation that the turmoil subsided.

At that time, the restrictions on Coca-Cola were officially explained to Tang Ning: First, he was afraid that Coca-Cola would affect the development of soft drinks in China. On the other hand, this restriction is also a kind of protection from causing too many incidents.

Although Tang Ning had long planned that Coca-Cola would not make money within three years, this did not mean that he did not have any plans and pursuits for China's Coca-Cola market.

So in this case, he finally couldn't help but make a move. First of all, the policy channel was opened, and after the Beijing factory was officially put into operation, the products were supplied to tourist hotels and foreign exchange was collected. Then, with the consent of the Ministry of Commerce, the remaining part of the supply to tourist hotels will be systematically put on the market in Beijing by the Beijing Sugar Tobacco and Liquor Company for domestic sales.

In order to open the market as soon as possible, Tangning began to order the Beijing branch to carry out promotions. So on a weekend in the winter of 1978, the Coca-Cola Company sold Coca-Cola in major shopping malls in Beijing, buying a bottle of Coke and giving away a balloon or a pair of chopsticks with packaging. For a while, there was a crowd of people. This page is the first in-store promotion in the modern Chinese market.

Beijing's major newspapers reacted strongly to this. The "Internal Reference" of Beijing Daily published an article entitled "Coca-Cola may not be Coke". It is believed that the introduction of Coca-Cola is a waste of the country's large foreign exchange resources when the country lacks foreign exchange. Chen Yun instructed: Only foreigners are allowed to sell, not to Chinese a bottle. According to the instructions, the Ministry of Commerce officially notified Beijing to stop sales.

At that time, Chen Guang, director of COFCO's sugar and liquor miscellaneous products department, a partner of Downing, wrote an article to the New Observation to refute it, but the magazine refused to publish it. wrote a report to the ministry, and the ministry also said that it could not help. At last. Chen Guang wanted to explain the problem directly to the central leadership in the form of a "letter from the people." He told his manager in charge, Zhu Jinchang, who said, "If you dare to write, I will dare to sign." The letter was written, and the two signed it together and forwarded it to the central leadership through Chen Muhua.

The main content of the letter stated that 96% of Coca-Cola produced in Beijing was domestic raw materials, and the concentrate supplied by Coca-Cola accounted for only 4% of the cost. Coca-Cola, which is sold in Beijing, not only did not cost the state a penny of foreign exchange, but also earned a large amount of foreign exchange for the country through tourist hotels. The surplus is put on the market, on the one hand, it enriches the market supply, and at the same time, the factory can make a considerable profit. Under the attention of the central government, Coca-Cola finally regained the right to sell domestically.

Another thing that gave Downing a great headache was the "caffeine turmoil".

Shortly after the promotional turmoil. Some local health departments did not allow Coca-Cola to be sold on the market on the grounds that "Coca-Cola contains caffeine and does not meet health requirements". According to a research institute in Northeast China, after feeding Coca-Cola to white mice, the mice became excited. COFCO pointed out that tea is a traditional Chinese beverage, but the caffeine content of tea is several times higher than that of Coca-Cola. The caffeine content of coffee is dozens of times higher than that of Coca-Cola, but the rest of the world has not banned it. The other party said that the caffeine contained in tea and coffee is natural caffeine. Non-manual addition. COFCO proposed that the main ingredient for Coca-Cola is a plant called Coca-cola. It contains caffeine and is not artificially added. The other party finally had nothing to say.

Tang Ning later concluded: The emergence of these turmoil is not accidental, it is a new thing that appeared in the early days of China's reform and opening up, and some people do not understand the principles and policies of reform and opening up because they are influenced by ultra-leftist ideological trends, and they are resistant to the introduction of such controversial products as Coca-Cola. It's natural.

Due to the twists and turns in the development of Coca-Cola, Tang Ning temporarily stopped the construction plan of instant noodles and rice cookers, and planned to wait until the Chinese market is more mature or the government develops Shenzhen before building a factory, so now his life in China is more leisurely, and most of the time is spent accompanying Han Xuewei around. Then I would like to teach my youngest son, Ji'an, who is just seventeen years old.

"Daddy, will China really be able to develop in the future? It's hard for me to imagine that such a rigid country could become a metropolis like Tokyo. ”

"Of course, sure, when did Daddy lie to you?"

"That's right, Daddy, your experience is enough to explain everything, especially since I just finished reading your biography published by Uncle Inujiro a while ago, and I know how you started from scratch to get to the current scale."

Tang Ning's heart can also be fully believed in the thing that the two dogs made? However, it is always good for his son to worship himself, so he continued: "In this case, then trust Daddy, and you will definitely be able to create greater achievements here in the future." ”

"But I feel like the people here are so rigid, it's too tiring to communicate with them."

"It's only temporary, and when you grow up, it's going to change dramatically, and then you'll find that the people here are actually very easy to deal with. In fact, I am not bringing you here to let you contact with the people here, but to familiarize you with Chinese culture, Chinese history and Chinese aesthetics, as for the exchange, there is no hurry now, because the Chinese, especially the Chinese officials, in ten years will be completely different from now, dealing with them is a difficult skill to master, which is also the focus of learning in the future. ”

"No, I think it's all simple and energetic, will it really change so much in ten years?"

"Don't worry, you will, you'll know when the time comes."

"Well, okay then, I'll listen to Daddy and study hard, by the way, Daddy, it's my sister's wedding in a while, when are we going to Washington, I haven't seen my sister and Brother Luo for a long time." (To be continued.) )