But many Chinese still flocked to the store, due to its many attractions. Except for the delicious burgers, crispy French fries and icy milk shakes, there was the image of an affable and farcical Ronald McDonald, the striking yellow, red and blue decor, the smiling attendants and the quick service, in sharp contrast to poor service consumers had long endured at local restaurants.

The success of the Shenzhen outlet prompted McDonald's to expand its chain nationwide. The then largest restaurant in terms of area for the fast-food behemoth was opened in 1992 at Beijing Wangfujing Street, the bustling commercial street of the capital city.

By the first quarter of 2002, there were 460 McDonald's around China. The figure reached 600 at the end of 2004. At the same time, its arch rival in China KFC expanded its network to 1,200.

So far, KFC has around 2,200 stores dotted around China's 465 cities. It is expanding at the rate of one store a day, reaching further into the counties, while McDonald's plans to have 1,000 stores in China by the end of 2008. But McDonald's indicates it pays more attention to same-restaurant performance.

"We have a business model of getting better versus getting bigger. It's not about you have how many restaurants, it's about how many restaurants that serve your customers well. It's not about how big, it's about how good and how you run your business," says Jeffrey Schwartz, McDonald's China CEO.

In early August, McDonald's reported an 8 percent increase in July global same-store sales, and its Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region saw 7.2 percent growth, driven by extended hours and menu varieties, especially in Australia and China.

However, despite Schwartz's note of "getting better versus getting bigger", McDonald's has not stopped aggressively increasing the number of its outlets in China.

The company will open 125 restaurants this year, 150 next year and 175 in 2010 across the country, says McDonald's CEO Skinner.