China Palace Starbucks© May Close

This is news? OK, I'm passing it along and I feel dirty. I mean Starbucks© has 12,000 stores world-wide. What does the loss of one mean? Just asking.

Managers of China's vast Forbidden City palace are deciding whether to close a Starbucks outlet on its grounds after protests led by a state TV personality, a news report said Thursday.

The Forbidden City, built in 1420, is a 178-acre complex of villas, chapels and gardens that was home to 24 emperors before the end of imperial rule in 1911. It is China's top tourist attraction, drawing some 7 million visitors a year.

"The museum is working with Starbucks to find a solution by this June in response to the protests," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted a palace spokesman, Feng Nai'en, as saying.

A news anchor for China Central Television has led an online campaign to remove Starbucks, which opened in the palace in 2000 at the invitation of its managers, who are under pressure to raise money to maintain the vast complex.

Forbidden City, Beijing, China

I'm not really sure if Starbucks© approves of the picture I posted, but that's not my problem. Its more interesting than their logo anyway.


One of these days I have to post logos. They show up everywhere from body painting to t-shirts to sand sculptures.

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