????當(dāng)年，可口可樂（Coca-Cola）回歸中國市場帶有一些啟示的意味。共產(chǎn)黨上臺執(zhí)政之后，外國品牌被逐出中國市場，30年后的1979年，中國經(jīng)濟剛剛開始對外開放。可口可樂紅白相間的瓶子，在紅色中國有重要的象征意義：中國宣布對外國人開放，愿意進行對外貿(mào)易，甚至愿意接觸資本主義。

????此外，35年前的今天重新出現(xiàn)在中國的可口可樂，對于整整一代中國人而言都充滿了神秘色彩。對于這款碳酸飲料和這家在中國的發(fā)展并非一帆風(fēng)順的公司而言，這是一個值得自豪的紀念日。1949年，新中國成立，可口可樂公司的灌裝廠被國有化，中國國家主席毛澤東曾公開諷刺這種能產(chǎn)生泡沫的褐色飲料是一種資產(chǎn)階級混合物。許多中國人對這種飲料的了解只限于從上一輩人那里聽到的故事，或者如果他們幸運的話，可能會在所剩不多的高檔酒店中看到一兩瓶。

????上世紀70年代末，與中國大多數(shù)經(jīng)濟行業(yè)一樣，汽水行業(yè)也呈現(xiàn)出群雄割據(jù)的局面：北京有一種叫做北冰洋（Arctic Ocean）的飲料，瓶子上有北極熊的標(biāo)志，廣州有一種名為珠江（Pearl River）的飲料，青島也有當(dāng)?shù)氐钠放啤Ｖ袊袌龀仕槠O(jiān)管混亂。當(dāng)時，可口可樂公司開拓前蘇聯(lián)市場的努力以失敗告終，當(dāng)?shù)厥袌霰桓偁帉κ职偈驴蓸饭究刂疲虼耍煽诳蓸菲惹邢Ｍ谶@個龐大的社會主義國家打開市場。

????1976年，毛澤東逝世，鄧小平登上政治舞臺。不久，他宣布了對外開放政策，這提高了可口可樂重返中國市場的可能性。實際上，兩國之間私下早已開始接觸。可口可樂公司的計劃只是其中一個環(huán)節(jié)：當(dāng)時的吉米?卡特政府正在努力與中國建立外交關(guān)系。

????可口可樂最終進入曾如一潭死水般封閉的中國市場，當(dāng)時，沒有人能夠預(yù)測到中國未來30年的迅速崛起。可口可樂公司也未預(yù)測到其可能面臨的困難。在此期間，可口可樂曾經(jīng)被禁售一年；不得不向文化大革命期間長大的管理者傳授商業(yè)基礎(chǔ)知識；其面對的消費者認為其標(biāo)志性飲料的味道，就像中國的傳統(tǒng)中藥；此外，與其合作的政府，并不想看到它取得太大成功。本文將詳細介紹可口可樂在重返中國之后，如何將中國變成其第三大市場（很快將成為其最大的市場）。

????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.