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Pizza Hut converts Chinese youth to western tastes, prices

October 31, 2004

People's Daily Online: Zhang Xianrong felt a little uneasy when she picked up the fork and knife for her first-ever taste of pizza — in celebration of her 25th birthday with her boyfriend Li Wenhua.

"Though the pizza is nothing special, I like the setting here because exotic romance is everywhere," said Zhang, who now works for a Beijing-based foreign-funded company."

As more young Chinese people chase foreign fashions and lifestyles, interest in Western food such as McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken grows.

Yum! Brands Inc. first introduced its chain restaurant in Beijing in 1990. Now Pizza Hut is opening its 148th store in China's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. After 10 years of expansion, the red huts are in downtown areas in 40-plus cities in eastern and central China.

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