Our History
From sourcing beginnings to global manufacturing partnerships.
The CPG Journey
CPG: TransContinental, later CPG, was founded by Michael De Clercq and started operations in Beijing.
Business & Supply Chain: Business was handled by Beijing-based FTCs (Foreign Trade Corporations) who had a monopoly on all import and export transactions. China exports to the USA were roughly $300 million.
World Events: Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) Paramount leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) until 1989.
CPG: CPG started attending the bi-annual Canton Fair (The China Import and Export Fair).
World Events: Sino-Vietnamese War Feb - March.
Technology: Fax machine - worldwide standard.
Business & Supply Chain: The US started giving China conditional, annual MFN (Most Favored Nation) status.
Specialized FTCs lost their absolute monopolies as provincial governments and manufacturing ministries were permitted to operate their own foreign trade branches.
World Events: Ronald Reagan president.
World Events: Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦) general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Technology: Apple introduced the first Macintosh.
CPG: CPG ended up having more than 30 of these computers in its Beijing office.
World Events: Reagan visit and speech in Beijing.
Technology: First computer-based fax.
CPG: CPG was the first foreign company in Beijing to get its own Telex machine.
World Events: Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳) general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
World Events: George H.W. Bush president. Tiananmen incident. Jiang Zemin (江泽民) general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Technology: Affordable cellular phones.
Business & Supply Chain: China exports to the USA: $15.24 billion.
Technology: Pan Am bankruptcy - Dec.
World Events: Dissolution of the USSR.
CPG: Xu Fengshi joined CPG.
World Events: Bill Clinton president.
Technology: Amazon’s beginning July 5th.
Technology: First non-stop flight from USA to China. Detroit-Beijing May 1 by Northwest.
CPG: Mike Zhang joined CPG.
Technology: AI: IBM Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess.
Business & Supply Chain: In January, Chinese private enterprises were officially allowed to handle their own import/export functions.
World Events: President Bill Clinton visited China with stops in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Guilin, and Hong Kong.
Business & Supply Chain: China exports to the USA: $52.16 billion.
Business & Supply Chain: China was extended Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) when it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Dec 11.
World Events: George W. Bush president.
World Events: Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) started in Guangzhou in November.
Technology: First Motorola RZR.
Business & Supply Chain: China exports to the USA: $259.8 billion.
Technology: First MacBook Pro.
Technology: First iPhone, June 29.
Business & Supply Chain: The GFC (Global Financial Crisis).
World Events: Barack Obama president. Obama visits Shanghai and Beijing for meetings with President Hu Jintao.
CPG: Coral Li Xiao Xu joined CPG.
World Events: Xi Jinping (习近平) general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
CPG: Jack Li joined CPG.
World Events: Russia invades and annexes Crimea. Obama visits Beijing to attend the APEC Leaders Meeting and hold bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping.
Technology: AI: DeepMind AlphaGo defeated champion Lee Sedol in Go.
World Events: Obama visits Hangzhou to attend the G20 Summit.
World Events: Donald Trump president.
CPG: Laura Dow joined CPG.
Business & Supply Chain: Tariff Wars between China and the USA started - 25% tariffs on $34 billions of goods.
Business & Supply Chain: Tesla opened its Gigafactory in Shanghai in December.
World Events: COVID19 started.
Business & Supply Chain: China exports to the USA: $452.5 billion.
World Events: Joe Biden president.
CPG: Jesse Alterman joined CPG.
Technology: AI: OpenAI's ChatGPT was launched.
World Events: Russia invades Ukraine.
Business & Supply Chain: US-China tariff wars.
World Events: Donald Trump president.
Technology: AI: Anthropic's Mythos was launched.