Starbucks taboo in China's Forbidden City: legislator
Move out: A Starbucks coffee drinker in Beijing's Forbidden City. A lawmaker seeks to oust Starbucks from the imperial palace.Picture: AFP (FILES) Photo taken 19 January 2007 shows a tourist drinking a coffee outside the Starbucks coffee shop in Beijing's Forbidden City. A Chinese lawmaker has tabled a motion to oust US coffeehouse Starbucks from the Forbidden City, one of Beijing's leading
Monday, March 12, 2007
A CHINESE lawmaker has tabled a motion to oust US coffeehouse Starbucks from the Forbidden City, one of Beijing's leading tourist attractions, adding another voice to an ongoing cultural clash.
"Starbucks must move out of the imperial palace immediately, and it can no longer be allowed to taint China's national culture," Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang Hongbin, a delegate to the current National People's Congress, as saying.
"As long as it stays in the imperial palace, it poses a challenge to our traditional culture."
Jiang, who hails from China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, said that he had tabled a motion to kick Starbucks out of the 587-year old imperial palace, the report said.
However, no record of the motion could be found amid more than 1,000 proposals tabled at this year's 12-day session of the rubber stamp parliament.
Jiang's comments follow a noisy Internet campaign launched earlier this year by television personality Rui Chenggang that garnered up to a half a million supporters in favour of shutting down the Starbucks store. The coffee shop has been embroiled in controversy since it opened at the site in 2000.
Up to seven million visitors visit the imperial palace yearly.
Rent paid by Starbucks is used for maintenance of the palace, the report said. "But not everything can be exchanged for money even in the market economy. The Forbidden City is one of the untradeable products," Jiang said.
AFP
"Starbucks must move out of the imperial palace immediately, and it can no longer be allowed to taint China's national culture," Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang Hongbin, a delegate to the current National People's Congress, as saying.
"As long as it stays in the imperial palace, it poses a challenge to our traditional culture."
Jiang, who hails from China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, said that he had tabled a motion to kick Starbucks out of the 587-year old imperial palace, the report said.
However, no record of the motion could be found amid more than 1,000 proposals tabled at this year's 12-day session of the rubber stamp parliament.
Jiang's comments follow a noisy Internet campaign launched earlier this year by television personality Rui Chenggang that garnered up to a half a million supporters in favour of shutting down the Starbucks store. The coffee shop has been embroiled in controversy since it opened at the site in 2000.
Up to seven million visitors visit the imperial palace yearly.
Rent paid by Starbucks is used for maintenance of the palace, the report said. "But not everything can be exchanged for money even in the market economy. The Forbidden City is one of the untradeable products," Jiang said.
AFP
Business Besides Oil
