In 1979, Deng Yingchao visited Canon and requested support for China's precision industry. The following year, 1980, the then President, Mr. Ryuzaburo Horai, paid a friendly visit to Beijing. The exchange of visits between the Chinese government and senior leaders of Canon Inc. was a solid first step for Canon Inc.'s business in China, and Canon Inc.'s investment in China was thus officially launched.
Then, in 1984, Canon signed technical cooperation (domestic assembly and production) contracts with Zhanjiang Copier Industry Company and Tianjin Copier Equipment Co. The investment in China started with the establishment of Beijia Information Technology Co. with Beifang Founder in 1988.
In 1989 and 1990, Canon invested in China and set up large-scale wholly-owned enterprises, Canon Dalian Office Equipment Co., Ltd. and Canon Zhuhai Co., Ltd. respectively, both of which exported 100 percent of their products and were tasked with the mission of supplying Canon products to the world market.
In 1994, the head office transferred the management of the Chinese market to Canon Hong Kong Limited. Until 1995, Canon's business in China was still limited to the production field and existed only as a production base of Canon Inc.
With the growth of the Asian economy, Asia became more and more important in Canon's business plan. In 1995, Canon formulated the "10% Asia Share Plan" (which called for an increase in sales in Oceania and Asia, excluding Japan, to 10% of the total global sales), and at the same time, Canon (Canon) gradually recognized the importance of China as a potentially huge market and revised its long-term strategy for business development in China. In the same year, Canon International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established as a sole proprietorship in Shanghai, and Guangdong United Optical Instruments Co. Canon International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is a spare parts center that provides after-sales service parts for Canon products in the Chinese market. It is located in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in Pudong, which makes it possible to supply the spare parts demanded by the Chinese market in a faster and more timely manner. It has changed the situation that when parts were imported through Chinese trading companies with import rights in the past, the arrival period was long and the demand exceeded the supply.
Then, in order to strengthen its presence in the Chinese market, Canon (China) Co., Ltd. was established in China in 1997 as a local legal entity, and from the date of its establishment, it took over the responsibility for all future investments in China in place of Canon's head office. In 1997, Canon (China) Ltd. invested in a joint venture with Tianjin Copying Equipment Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Canon (China) Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Copying Equipment Co.
In 1998, in accordance with the term of the 10-year joint venture contract, Canon successfully concluded the cooperation with Beijia Information Technology Co. In the same year, Canon (China) Co., Ltd. reinvested in the joint venture and established a software development company, Beijing Beijia Information System Co., Ltd. to add research and development to Canon's business in China.
In 2001, Canon spent 100 million dollars to invest in the first production project in Jiangsu Province - Suzhou plant settled in Suzhou New District, mainly producing copiers and software, which is the largest plant Canon invested in the world, and is also the largest investment Canon has made in more than 20 years in China. At the same time, Canon (Zhongshan) Office Equipment Co.
In 2002, the Shanghai branch of Canon (China) Co., Ltd. was established, and Canon (China) Co., Ltd. began domestic sales of products produced by the invested companies, at which time Canon moved its Asian marketing headquarters to Beijing.
In 2003, Canon gradually registered and established 15 branches, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Jinan, Xi'an, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Shenzhen, basically forming a nationwide sales and service network. Canon's flagship showroom "Canon Image Plaza" was opened in Beijing. A nationwide (except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) unified hotline center was also established in Beijing.
In 2004, Canon Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. was established in Beijing, and on April 29, 2004, after the friendly negotiation between the two parties of joint venture, Beijing Beijia Information System Co., Ltd. changed its shareholding to become a wholly foreign-owned enterprise with 100% capital investment from Canon (China) Limited, and was renamed as Canon Information Technology (Beijing) Co. Committed to the research and development of software products of international standards, the first self-imported goods warehousing ceremony was held in Guangzhou. At this point, Canon (China) can directly import and sell products from abroad.
In addition, Canon (China) Ltd. also changed its shareholding in Guangdong United Optical Instruments Co., Ltd. and invested in the capital increase portion of Canon Dalian and Canon Zhuhai.
To date, Canon Inc. has accumulated a billion dollars of investment in China, with about 30,000 employees.