Opinions: Don't blame Starbucks for success

by Seth Pate
Arizona State University Web Devil

What's better than visiting the political center of the 5,000 -year-old Chinese culture? Being able to get a Grande Iced Caramel Macchiato while doing so. Welcome to the new China.

Rui Chenggang, a news anchor for Chinese Central Television's English channel, recently wrote a blog article titled, "Why Starbucks Needs To Get Out Of the Forbidden City." It's a sentiment that many Chinese appear to share; the Palace Museum, which administers the site, has been flooded with complaints that it has become a "slave to money."

Can one reasonably expect anything else in a country where everything is being thrown out the window in a headlong pursuit of wealth?

Not that I don't have a personal affinity for the occasional Frappe or Venti Pumpkin Spice Chai - quite the opposite, I've even been known to order the indulgent Creamice. But this particular Starbucks is a reminder that the twin gods of industrialization and globalization hath their prices.

On a recent trip to the Forbidden City, my buddies and I were dumbfounded by the beauty of the site and the history it held; we were welcomed by an actor dressed as an ancient emperor, we rubbed the enormous brass gate for good luck, we inspected the dragon-shaped water basins, whose gold coatings the Japanese had scraped off when they occupied Beijing in 1937.

And, at the very heart of the Forbidden City, which is a United Nations World Heritage site and was home to the emperors, there was a Starbucks. It wasn't a particularly big one; there weren't even any signs outdoors indicating it was there. But you could smell it.

The Starbucks in the Forbidden City draws fire because of its location - imagine a tamale stand on the lap of the Lincoln Memorial, or a guy selling eggrolls in Washington's mouth on Mt. Rushmore. It's also crucified as a symbol of the big, mean, nasty imperialist West.

But the Starbucks corporation isn't to blame; it's a product of the situation in China today.

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