Starbucks Ousted From Forbidden City

"For the past seven years, visitors to Beijing's 587-year-old Forbidden City have had that option as they tramped through the historic complex of sprawling gardens and halls that takes up 178 acres at the heart of Beijing. But that ended when Starbucks finally shut its store on July 13 after a storm of opposition from patriotic mainland Chinese. "

"The campaign to oust the Seattle-based coffee chain from one of China's most historic sites was led by a popular news anchor from the country's national television broadcaster, CCTV, who ignited a firestorm after taking up the issue on his popular blog last year. "Starbucks has good quality stuff, but it is still a symbol of America's low-class food culture," wrote Rui Chenggang on Jan. 12, 2007. "It's maybe O.K. to have a Starbucks around the Forbidden City. But having one inside the City is inappropriate. This is not globalization, but an erosion of Chinese culture." "