A Chinese drinks chain that has opened its first stores in the United States copied its theme tune from a racist 19th-century Alabama folk song.

Mixue floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange in March last year before becoming the world's largest franchise, and is now taking on McDonald's and Starbucks with its assault on the US in December.

But its debut in the States could be overshadowed by the origins of its catchy theme tune that propelled it to become a household name in China and plays on repeat throughout its more than 53,000 stores worldwide.

Footage shows how the ice cream and tea chain appears to have lifted the melody almost note-for-note from the nostalgic but racially offensive Stephen Foster song 'Oh! Susanna', which was recorded in 1848.

The original song's original lyrics were written from the point of view of a black slave who was portrayed as dumb.

One of the verses reads: 'I jumped aboard the telegraph, And trabbled down the riber, De lectric fluid magnified, And killed five hundred n****r.'

Stephen Foster, often called the 'father of American music', wrote numerous blackface minstrel songs that reinforced racist stereotypes, including Oh! Susanna. Though his later works were said to have attempted a more sympathetic portrayal of black people, they still contained racially condescending ideas.

Worryingly, the melody of the song is used for the Chinese firm's signature music. Video captured today from one store in the Thai capital Bangkok shows how the two tunes are identical.

Chinese business experts at the website Pandayoo explained that domestic capital markets 'took notice of the brand in late 2020' before the catchy theme song 'brought it from the depths to the surface in mid-2021'.

They added: 'The song titled 'Mixue Bingcheng Theme Song' is based on the original song 'Oh! Susanna' by the famous American composer Stephen Collins Foster.

'The rights period of the original song has expired and the song has become public copyright. The theme song was adapted by cutting the complicated parts of the original song and incorporating the brand's slogan, making it more catchy and memorable.'

Shares of Mixue Group jumped more than 47 per cent in their debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last March.

The chain operates mainly in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, opened a location in Los Angeles, California, on December 19, and two in New York City a few days later. Mixue opened in Hell’s Kitchen and Koreatown in New York on December 24 and 25.

For the two opening events, Mixue offered buy-one-get-one-free deals to customers. This was only for those willing to sing its theme song in-store or post videos on TikTok or Instagram.

The shop - known for its cheap drinks and red-cloaked Snow King mascot - raised 444 million USD in an initial public offering by selling 17 million shares in the deal at a fixed price of 202.5 HKD each.

Mixue's high profile among Chinese consumers for selling drinks for as cheap as 6 yuan (0.82 USD) and a lack of IPOs in Hong Kong drove demand for the stock from retail investors, advisors on the deal said.