One of the most incongruous sights of the globalised age — the Starbucks coffee shop inside Beijing’s Forbidden City — could soon be a thing of the past after a furious online campaign.
In response to this demonstration of “netizen” power, the palace’s guardians have announced plans to review the presence of the coffee shop. A decision will be made within six months, local media said.
Along with Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s, Xing Ba Ke — the Mandarin name for Seattle-based Starbucks — is immensely popular in China. But the outlet inside the palace has stirred up controversy since it opened in 2000.
Located along paths that for centuries were off limits to anyone but emperors, concubines, eunuchs and court guards, the coffee shop has drawn stares from many of the 1,6-million foreign visitors to the World Heritage Site each year.
Despite lowering its profile with the removal of its trademark signboards, the coffee shop faces stronger opposition than ever this week. The trigger was a blog entry posted on Monday by Rui Chenggang, a TV anchorman, who called for a web campaign against the outlet that he said “tramples over Chinese culture”.
According to local media, half a million people have signed his online petition and dozens of newspapers have carried big stories about the controversy.
“The Starbucks was put here six years ago, but back then, we didn’t have blogs. This campaign is living proof of the power of the web,” said Rui.
“The Forbidden City is a symbol of China’s cultural heritage. Starbucks is a symbol of lower-middle-class culture in the West. We need to embrace the world, but we also need to preserve our cultural identity. There is a fine line between globalisation and contamination.”
The palace museum has ignored polls suggesting 70% of people dislike the outlet’s location. But officials now appear to be taking note. “The museum is working with Starbucks to find a solution by this June in response to the protests,” Xinhua news agency quoted a museum spokesperson, Feng Nai’en, as saying.
“Whether or not Starbucks remains depends on the entire design plan that will be released in the first half of the year.”
Starbucks said it had no plans to move. “Starbucks appreciates the deep history and culture of the Forbidden City and has operated in a respectful manner that fits within the environment,” Eden Woon, vice-president for greater China, told Reuters. “We have provided a welcome place of rest for thousands of tourists, both Chinese and foreign, for more than six years. We are honoured to have the opportunity … to enhance visitors’ museum experience.”
Rui is already considering his next target: American Express sponsorship signs. “I really loathe them. The introduction to every site says: ‘Made possible by American Express.’ It is as if the Mona Lisa had a label saying: ‘Made possible by the People’s Bank of China,'” he said. “But please don’t interpret this as an act of nationalism. It is just about we Chinese people respecting ourselves. I actually like drinking Starbucks coffee. I am just against having one in the Forbidden City.” – Guardian Unlimited Â