Which Chinese city got McDonald's first restaurant in mainland China in 1990? Shenzhen got mainland China's first McDonald's restaurant.
The restaurant opened on October 8, 1990, in Shenzhen's Luohu District, at Dongmen. Its arrival made Shenzhen the entry point for McDonald's in mainland China, years after the chain had already expanded elsewhere in East Asia, including Hong Kong.
The opening was a major event for the rapidly developing special economic zone. The restaurant reportedly had 500 seats and was financed with an investment of 40 million Hong Kong dollars through McDonald's Hong Kong operation. It introduced a highly visible American fast-food brand to one of China's most internationally connected cities.
Shanghai and Beijing later became major McDonald's markets, but neither was first. Another possible source of confusion is mainland China versus the broader Chinese-speaking region: Hong Kong received McDonald's in 1975, while the mainland debut occurred in Shenzhen in 1990.