First Pu Yi, Now Starbucks

Those Chinese are really picky about who lives in the Forbidden City.  First, they kicked out Emperor Pu Yi, now they've kicked out Starbucks.  Starbucks opened a small shop in an unobtrusive corner of the Forbidden City back in 2000.  Even though it removed all outer signage, Chinese people still thought it was a cultural travesty to have the shop inside the Forbidden City.  We were fortunate enough to visit the controversial coffee shop before it was closed down.  I quite enjoyed the experience.  But I admit that we'd had a harrowing day in Beijing and I wasn't in the mood to be very culturally sensitive at the time. 

As a matter of fact, a couple of the people in our group were interviewed about their opinions on the shop while we there.  I didn't hear the entire interview, but I think they acknowledged the difficulty of balancing cultural uniqueness while opening up to Western business and tourism.  It's been a while since I've been to the Kremlin, but I guess I would be surprised to find a Starbucks inside there, no matter how low-key it was.  So I guess I don't feel strongly either way about whether it should have been closed or allowed to stay open.  I'm just glad that I got the chance to visit it while it was open - I'm part of a small historical footnote. 

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