Since the reform and opening up, dozens of cola brands have been born in China. Today, when Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are best-selling, the development of domestic cola is an arduous road full of blood and tears. For some people, domestic cola carries more memories and joy. Let’s take stock of the Chinese’s own cola brands, recall the past and reflect on the present, and explore the feasible way forward for the domestic cola market in the future.

The earliest one is Laoshan Cola, which can be traced back to 1953 and contains more than ten kinds of natural herbs such as jujube, angelica dahurica and amomum villosum. In the 1990s, its sales volume was considerable, ranking first among the eight major colas. However, it declined after Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola entered the Chinese market, and it was acquired by Coca-Cola. It was revived by Qingdao Laoshan Mineral Water in 2004, but sales were tepid.

Wahaha launched Very Coca-Cola in 1998, with sales reaching 2 billion to 3 billion, forming a tripartite situation of Wahaha, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi-Cola. However, it lost in the market competition in the later period, and now sales have dropped significantly.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Wahaha specially developed a children's cola based on the characteristics of children's growth and development. Children's Coke does not contain caffeine or preservatives, filling a gap in the domestic children's carbonated beverage market and being loved by consumers, especially teenagers. Unfortunately, after 2005, children’s Coca-Cola basically disappeared.

Fenhuang Cola, which was launched in 1998, mainly markets in small and medium-sized cities and rural markets, creating a "two giants and three teenagers" pattern of domestic beverages. However, due to lack of funds, it disappeared from the market after 2001.

Happiness Coke, a product close to Coca-Cola, was developed by Shanghai Zhengguanghe Soda Drink Factory. Currently, it has been discontinued.

Tianfu Cola, born in Chongqing in 1980, is a domestic carbonated drink based on Chinese herbal medicine formula. It was once positioned as a state banquet drink. However, it was gradually marginalized after cooperating with Pepsi in 1994 and only regained the trademark in 2013. , came back in 2016. The reputation is very good, but in the declining Coke market, the future is still unclear.

Most of the eight major domestic colas have disappeared from history, and the few that have survived are far from rivals of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. China's carbonated beverage market is completely in the hands of foreign colas. In fact, from these eight domestic colas, we can see that Chinese carbonated beverages are not uncompetitive, but have disappeared from the market due to various reasons.