Houston Community News >> Forbidden City Starbucks Closes it Doors
7/14/2007 Beijing- After a
seven-year run dogged with controversy, an outlet of the American coffee-shop
chain, Starbucks, located inside Beijing’s Forbidden City has closed its doors.
The move comes after an intensive Internet campaign started by a State TV anchor
last year accused the coffee-shop of “trampling” on Chinese culture and hurting
the image of the historical monument.
The Forbidden City is a former imperial palace that was home to 24 emperors
before the end of imperial rule in 1911. It is also China’s top tourist
attraction, drawing some 7 million visitors a year. Located bang opposite
Tiananmen Square, the palace has long formed the symbolic heart of the country.
The Starbucks outlet opened inside the Forbidden City, back in 2000 at the
invitation of the palace managers who were looking for ways to raise the money
needed to maintain the 178-acre complex of villas and gardens.
Commercial ventures
Starbucks was not the only commercial outlet to operate within the palace
grounds where a range of bookstores, souvenir shops, snack bars and
Chinese-style teahouses are located.
From the very beginning, there were some critics in China who felt that the
presence of the American franchise inside the palace was jarring and culturally
inappropriate. Thus, shortly after opening, Starbucks had agreed to lower its
profile by removing an exterior sign.
Since the beginning of this year, the Internet campaign calling for the outlet’s
closure had gathered strength, hogging the headlines in domestic media and
garnering the support of some half a million people. The coffee-shop closed on
Friday although the announcement was made public only on Saturday. “[W]e have
respectfully decided to end our lease agreement,” Wang Jinlong, president of
Starbucks Greater China, said in a written statement: “We fully respect the
decision of Forbidden City to transition to a new mode of concessions service to
its museum visitors.”
(Contributed by Hindu International)