Steamed by Starbucks in Forbidden City
'It's a shame,' our guide lamented as we insisted on visiting a sacrilegious shrine to Seattle-ness
Jun 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Schiller
ASIA BUREAU
Beijing–The young tour guide's jaw dropped when I said I wanted to go to Starbucks. She was flabbergasted.
But I had my reasons.
It was a hot and dusty afternoon and we were standing in the middle of the Forbidden City, the country's cosmic centre – arguably the most cherished site in all of China.
I'd hooked up with some American friends who had never visited the Forbidden City, a Ming masterpiece from the 15th century that was home to 24 emperors and their attendants. I'd been before, but was happy to come along.
But at the mere mention of Starbucks, the Chinese guide reacted as though I'd just tossed a Molotov cocktail into the middle of a perfectly fine conversation – not unlike the Molotov hurled last month at the famous portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs above the Forbidden City's gates.
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posted by Robert @ 6/17/2007
1 Comments
1 Comments:
The campaign against the Starbucks was begun by state-run China National Television media anchor Rui Chenggang, with the backing of Jiang Hongbin from the National Peoples Congress. Jiang Hongbin is president of Heilongjiang Chia Tai Co., Ltd.
http://www.cpgroup.cn/english/web/companydetails.asp?CompanyID=1B0AA6FC735C4A9393DD30CFD2A4F71B
While the parent company (Chia Tai, Co.) is not, it's vested partner, CP Group of Thailand, IS vested in AG projects around the world, including Kenya. Interestingly, China and Kenya this last month signed a 'major breakthrough' agreement regarding coffee exports and logistics and CP is also involved in Doi Tung Developmental Project, which is in part an ongoing effort in development of plantations of Arabica coffee in Chiangrai, Thailand.
http://craigeisele.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/kenya-and-china-sign-coffee-pact-is-most-of-kenyan-coffee-headed-to-china/
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