For a school project,I am researching East Asian nationals reactions
to US restaurants, particularly McDonalds. Are McDonald's Restaurants
embraced or mostly ignored by the local citizens.  Has the trend (one
way or the other) been consistent or is it changing.   The countries
I'm interested in are Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and
Vietnam. Any info orleads on articles about this subject will be
appreciated.

Just a point of personal experience for you, student4ever-ga.

When I was in Fuzhou, China just over a year ago, I visited several McDonalds,
mostly because my (2 years old at the time) daughter liked their milk shakes.

As Fuzhou does not get very many foreign visitors, or at least not nearly as
many as most places in China, it would seem to be a good "test" city for your
research.

My experience at some 5 different McDonalds in Fuzhou was that they were well
visited by the locals, but seemed to be mostly a younger crowd.  I think they
have 8 or so McDonalds in Fuzhou.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Another personal tidbit. I when I was a child and McDonald's were just
beginning to become a common sight in the country and they were very
popular. People seemed to go to get a taste of American food and items
such as McPizza and even McSpaghetti were popular. They were very
popular. I went back a few year ago and Burger King, KFC, and a few
other were all there and not doing as well. McDonalds had added items
such as terriyaki bowls and kim chi burgers to their menu. I went back
again last year and the menu was exactly the same as you would find in
the US. No McSpaghetti or McTerriyaki bowls. So it seems that
initially they did well giving the people a chance to get something
they did not usually find in their country. Then they tried to cater
more to their audience but failed since I'm sure any street vendor in
Taiwan could offer a better rice bowl than McDonald's. So now they're
going back to the traditional McDonald's menu.

To denco-ga: Thank you very much for your comments.  They are most
helpful for my school project.  Sincerely student4ever.

I have lived in China and Taiwan. My impression is that Mac D is
already about as ubiquitous and popular as it is in the west in the
big cities (I am from the UK). The far east is Mac D's fastest growing
area of development.

My impression also is that in China and Taiwan Mac D is regarded as
slightly more trendy and upper class than in it is seen the UK;
possibly purely for the reason that the prices are relatively high
(but still cheaper than in the UK!). So you gotta be well off to go;
esp in China. The restaurants are always very clean, spottless even.
Very not like Mac D in the UK and not like other places to eat in
China and (less so) Taiwan. Plus, the food seems to be of better
quality and cooked better.

The range of food is pretty much the same as in the UK, except
sometimes they have special options that might be a variation on
something local. I think that Mac D does especially well, or better
than in the UK, with small deserts in China and Taiwan. They have a
wider range of stuff that takes up more space on the order board thing
including local influenced stuff-like sweet bean curd pie.  The above
pretty much applies to KFC as well and Burger King (although no BK in
China as I recall)

Hope this provides some sort of insight.

You might wanna look at Subway, appaerntly they have had remarkable
growth in China and Taiwan. Saw it in the paper.

To chance0110-ga and jaems-ga:  Thank you both for your comments. 
They confirm the trends I have noticed.  Sincerely, student4ever.
Any additional comments would be appreciated.

I lived in Taipei, Taiwan for 10 years (until 3 years ago), and I can
tell you that in Taipei, McDonald's has pretty much lost its "charm".
Generally, the meals are expensive (about 1.5 times the price of an
average meal) than the average Taiwanese is willing to pay. The price,
however, does not make it a "luxury" by any standard, and local
schoolchildren can often be found frequenting the stores after school.
In general, there's just so much more food that's cheaper, but it (and
Burger King) is the only place you can get a quick hamburger.

So generally speaking for Taiwan, McDonald's (and most fast food) has been embraced.

Hi,

I've just spent a couple of weeks touring Vietnam - and didn't see a
McDonalds once. I suspect they don't have any. I did see KFC a few
times though...

- Delard

Yes Delard!
I'm so sorry that right now we do not have any McDonald's restaurents in VN. 
For me, a Vietnamese people living in Hanoi, realized that in recent
years the living condition of vietnamse has been being improved
continuosly, so that almost peoples now can use that fastfood
frequently (every day).
But unfortunately McDonald's Res has not been here yet!
   First of all, I really want to be a representative to operate the
first McDonald's Restaurent in VN, especialy in HN and HCMC!
   So could you give me some proposal how to do that? Who can i
contact to do that? is it possible to locate McDonald's Res in VN?
I really really.... want to have the Res in VN as soon as possible...
Pls help me!
Thankyou so much!
BRs!