Starbucks in Forbidden City to close
CNN reports : Call it globalization gone crazy, nationalistic nonsense or just a storm in a coffee cup.
The opening of a Starbucks in Beijing's Forbidden City is brewing a storm in China, with outraged local media reporting that 70 percent of people would rather not sip the American chain's frappuccinos in the footsteps of the Son of Heaven.
"This is no different from slapping China's 1.2 billion people and 5,000-year traditional culture in the face," said the China Consumer Journal. "Some people's anger is no different from their feelings when our embassy was bombed."
U.S.-bashing has been in vogue since American warplanes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia during the 1999 Kosovo crisis, triggering an outpouring of fury in Beijing. But the media backlash against Starbucks took officials at the 600-year-old Forbidden City by surprise. Now they are considering revoking the coffee chain's one-year license after just two months in business.
Pic : http://geography.about.com
The opening of a Starbucks in Beijing's Forbidden City is brewing a storm in China, with outraged local media reporting that 70 percent of people would rather not sip the American chain's frappuccinos in the footsteps of the Son of Heaven.
"This is no different from slapping China's 1.2 billion people and 5,000-year traditional culture in the face," said the China Consumer Journal. "Some people's anger is no different from their feelings when our embassy was bombed."
U.S.-bashing has been in vogue since American warplanes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia during the 1999 Kosovo crisis, triggering an outpouring of fury in Beijing. But the media backlash against Starbucks took officials at the 600-year-old Forbidden City by surprise. Now they are considering revoking the coffee chain's one-year license after just two months in business.
Pic : http://geography.about.com
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