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The paper aims to investigate if the inflow of foreign direct investment to China is not a new phenomenon but one which is directly associated to the country's economic history.

The question is approached by studying the current FDI inflows and comparing them with those of the past.

It is found that FDI inflows to China are not a new phenomenon. In the pre‐communist China, Western multinationals had been extremely active surprisingly in the same geographical locations. Thus, the current FDI inflow is a repetition of the past.

The research was based on secondary data, already published in the international academic literature. However, the implications of the paper are associated with economic behaviour. It seems that today's investors have similar if not identical criteria with those of the past.

The value of the paper is to explain FDI inflows not as the outcome of traditional theoretical schemata (ownership, location, internalisation, market power approach, internationalization, etc.) but using the element of economic history and the repeated economic behaviour. Cultural parameters are also addressed.