McDonalds Super Sizing Beijing

McDonald's Opens Drive-Through in China

BEIJING (AP) -- McDonald's Corp. opened its first drive-through in Beijing on Friday, launching a partnership with a major Chinese oil company to exploit the country's growing taste for both cars and Western fast food.

The Beijing drive-through is the first in McDonald's venture with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., which McDonald's China CEO Jeffrey Schwartz said would open 25 to 30 more in the next 12 to 18 months. Both gas stations and drive-throughs are booming as car purchases by newly affluent drivers speed China's change from a bicycle culture to a car culture.

McDonald's and its partner, also known as Sinopec, christened the new two-story Beijing restaurant, set beside a Sinopec filling station, with a ceremony that mixed traditional lion dancers and a Chinese- speaking Ronald McDonald.