Ever since Deng Xiaoping declared it glorious to get rich, multinationals have viewed China as a land of 1bn-plus sets of teeth to be cleaned, heads to be shampooed and stomachs to be filled.
Three decades later (despite doubts that the late paramount leader actually uttered those words), the world’s most populous country is awash with the products that form the staples of middle-class life.
Many multinationals got it wrong in the interim: witness the numerous failed joint ventures where capital and technology passed to the domestic partner in exchange for scant recompense. Danone, the French dairy and water group, quit its venture in 2009 after accusing partner Wahaha, China’s leading soft-drinks producer, and Zong Qinghou, its founder, of setting up lucrative parallel businesses.legalled