Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

“Forbidden City Starbucks Closes”
BBC NEWS-Anonymous
July 7, 2007


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.
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. The 600-year-old complex, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, is now a museum where the caffeine titan opened its doors in 2000. The controversy surrounding Starbucks' presence in the Forbidden City highlights the risks to foreign companies of offending Chinese nationalist sentiment.

A Chinese TV personality Rui Chenggang led the online campaign, saying the shop's presence "undermined the solemnity of the Forbidden City and trampled on Chinese culture". Chenggange had waged the campaign against the Forbidden City Starbucks, arguing that the store trampled on Chinese culture. Apparently unwilling to imperil its chances of expanding in a potentially huge market, Starbucks, which currently has 250 locations in China, bowed out without a fuss.
China officially condemns the imperial era as corrupt and feudal, but most Chinese boast proudly of their 5,000-year history and regard the Forbidden City as its cultural heart. Rui Chenggange says, “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 globalization and contamination.”

With respect to Starbucks, from a marketing perspective I understand the reasons for settling in the Forbidden City. The strategy was reasonable in my eyes. To...