Fast food chain KFC yesterday opened its 4,000th store in the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China as it keeps expanding in the world's fastest growing market to drive sales.

Mark Chu, president of Yum!'s China division, said KFC will add at least 500 stores each year from now on -- a faster pace than the annual 400 new openings in the past two years.

He said the company will keep expanding in China's third-tier cities and at the same time consolidate its position in the first- and second-tier cities.

KFC, the US fast food restaurant under Yum! Brands, now operates in more than 800 Chinese cities. It is expanding faster than its rival McDonald's, which is expected to have 2,000 outlets in 2013.

Yum also owns more than 760 Pizza Huts across China.