Shells have been on track in china for over a century. After more than a hundred years of wind and rain, the long-standing commitment of shell to the chinese market has remained unchanged. As early as the early 1990s, the founders of shell transport trading ltd., marco simer and the sam sam samer brothers, began importing kerosene into china and establishing oil depots in hong kong, shanghai, guangzhou and xiamen, and later worked with the royal dutch oil company to operate in the far east. Before world war ii, shell had more than 50 subsidiaries in china and operated 1,000 distribution offices in some 20 provinces. During the war, all the equipment was taken over by the japanese army and severely damaged and all operations were halted. After the war, the reconstruction of the shell proceeded quickly. When the people's republic of china was founded in 1949, shell had employed over 1,000 employees, including 35 foreign employees and 4 chinese managers. After 1950, shell continued to develop in china and became the only western oil company to remain in china. The shell office in shanghai was allowed to remain until 1966 when the office closed. Meanwhile, shell operations in hong kong for petroleum and chemical products have remained in the lead. Shells were invited to the guangzhou fair in 1970 and 71. In 1980, shell established its office in beijing and expanded its operations further and further along with china's open-door policy, becoming one of the largest international energy companies investing in china。