British American Tobacco Company (Yīng-Měi Yāncǎo Gōngsī 英美烟草公司)|Yīng-Měi Yāncǎo Gōngsī 英美烟草公司 (British American Tobacco Company)

Howard COX

The British American Tobacco company was among the most significant of Western companies to have invested in production facilities in China during the first half of the twentieth century. By 1937 it was manufacturing annually 55 billion machine-made cigarettes, distributed largely through indigenous Chinese mercantile networks. In 1941 its assets were seized by Japan; the company was ejected from China in 1953.

The early history of the British American Tobacco (BAT) company provides an example of