As Chinese people earned more money in the 1990s, they started spending hundreds of millions of yuan on eating. Precious foods such as abalone, sea cucumber and shark fin began appearing on the dinner table. Foreign flavors such as French cuisine, Italian pizza, Japanese food and Korean barbeque all arrived in China as well, resulting in all kinds of restaurants that could be seen everywhere in China. However, the health conditions of the people worsened as the rate of cardinal problems, such as tumors and diabetes, increased. As a result, many people began weight-losing programs.

The first McDonald's opened in Shenzhen in 1990.