This Day, That Year: June 19

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

Coca-Cola was the first US company to operate on the Chinese mainland after the nation began its opening-up policies in 1979, the same year that Sino-US diplomatic relations were established at an ambassadorial level.

In January 1979, the first 3,000 cases of Coke were shipped from Hong Kong to Beijing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, by train. Buyers were limited to foreigners that came to China for business or tourism, Chinese citizens who returned from overseas, and Hong Kong and Macao compatriots.

In April 1981, Coca-Cola's Beijing plant started official production after a weeklong trial run. It then started a bottling plant in Guangdong in 1983 and another one in Shanghai in 1986.

An item from June 19, 1994, in China Daily showed a boy buying a cup of Coke in a Beijing store. That year, Coca-Cola started the construction of the first of 10 planned bottling plants in China.

Coca-Cola now has 45 plants in cooperation with its three main bottling partners in China. The company offers consumers a wide variety of choices with over 60 beverages under more than 20 brands.

To cater to the changing consumer preferences in the country, the beverage maker has diversified its product range in China by introducing more healthy and functional products.

Coca-Cola has rolled out new products like sugar-free Sprite with fiber and ready-to-drink tea products.

In August, the company localized the Japanese version of Coca-Cola Plus in China.

Last year, Coca-Cola acquired international coffee brand Costa from parent company Whitbread for $5.1 billion. The sale is expected to boost the company's presence in the fast-growing coffee business, a booming market, in China.