L'Oréal's beauty empire goes huge along with Sino-French exchanges

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations. L'Oréal is a witness, beneficiary, and promoter of the friendly development of relations between the two countries.

L'Oréal Group, originating in France, has a history spanning 115 years and is recognized as the world's largest cosmetics group.

Beauty is a heritage and inheritance that transcends different cultures. L'Oréal's Sino-French heritage dates back to 1964, when the Bettencourt family actively contributed to diplomatic ties between France and China.

With China's opening-up and reform, L'Oréal embarked on a journey in this culturally profound country renowned for its extensive cultural accumulation and thousands of years of beauty heritage.

At L'Oréal, we firmly believe that beauty has the power to preserve cultural heritage, stimulate innovation, promote social and economic growth, promote diversity and inclusion, and contribute to harmony with life.

Since the first day, we have made it our mission to foster the exchange of cultures and economies between France and China.

Last year, during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China, we signed two Sino-French strategic partnership project MOUs. These are the "Digital Circular Economy Model" in China's beauty industry with Alibaba, and the "French Tech Start-ups and SMEs Incubation Platform" with Shanghai's Oriental Beauty Valley and Business France. These build on the success of the Big Bang Beauty-tech Innovation Challenge collaboration.

As one of the official activities, our "Notre-dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition" project has been selected to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations for the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

We will bring it back to Beijing this year, inviting Chinese visitors to experience the cultural and architectural beauty of the Cathedral. In addition, the L'Oréal Paris x Jingdezhen crossover project will also be unveiled at the Chinese ceramic culture exhibition at the Centre Culturel de Chine à Paris. Moving forward, we will continue to bring the best of France to China while showcasing China's wisdom to inspire the world.

Now as the biggest beauty group in China, L'Oréal has been in the market for more than 26 years and has gratefully benefited from China's opening up and reforming, growing steadily and healthily, from zero to big and from big to huge, together with China.

We have constantly explored innovative new models to meet the Chinese people's desire for "Consumption for Good." Our goal is to continue being a friendly ambassador in all fields of Sino-French exchange, especially in the cultural and economic areas.

This year holds great significance, marking a new cycle for Sino-French diplomatic relations and L'Oréal.

This new cycle combines socioeconomic development, meeting consumers' aspirations for a better life, and the necessity to address the sustainability challenge.

We believe that the Sino-French relationship will continue to play an unprecedented role in the world, creating a new path for globalization and producing win-win results through innovative collaboration between the global economy and leveraging their unique strengths.

Milestones of L'Oréal in China

• 1996 L'Oréal Suzhou plant began construction.
• 1997 L'Oréal China headquarters was founded in Shanghai.
• 1997 L'Oréal sponsored the exhibition of the French artist Zao Wou-Ki. which made global Abstract Expressionism artists' masterpieces accessible to the public in China.
• 1999 L'Oréal Suzhou plant started production.
• 2004 L'Oréal China co-established the China Young Women in Science Award with the All-China Women's Federation, China Association for Science and Technology, and Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.
• 2005 L'Oréal set up Shanghai research and innovation center.
• 2010 China became L'Oréal's third largest market.
• 2010 L'Oréal sponsored the Shanghai World Expo and its French Pavilion.
• 2015 China became L'Oréal's second largest market.
• June 24, 2019 China becomes L'Oréal's first market realizing carbon neutral with operation sites covering plants, distribution centers, research & innovation center and offices.
• 2019 L'Oréal sponsored the 5-year partnership project between the Centre Pompidou and Shanghai's West Bund Museum Project.
• 2021 Shanghai became headquarters of L'Oréal North Asia Zone.
• 2022 L'Oréal set up its first investment company at country/market level in China.
• 2022 L'Oréal Suzhou Intelligent Fulfillment Center laid the foundation.
• 2023 L'Oréal signed agreement to build u China LUXE Intelligent Fulfillment Center in Nantong, Jiangsu Province.