Chinese cafe replaces Starbucks in Forbidden city

It seems, the Chinese are very keen on preserving their heritage and culture. It is so much so that they closed down the American coffee store ‘Starbucks’ in China, and opened up their own version of the coffee and tea shop. The state run coffee shop now stands on the premises where Starbucks once stood. This particular Chinese hot beverage shop stands up for everything Chinese. It even sells the chinese tea. I think China is trying to sort of nationalize everything and promote local brands to boost up local economy. One way, this is a good deal. The American coffee shop closed down in July. It was in business since 2000. There is a lot of controversy based on the presence of the American coffee business. Instead of brewing coffee, Starbucks brewed political and social storm. When asked for the opinion of the Chinese people, about 70 percent of the people voted against the American cappuccinos. No one knew that the tiny coffee bar would create so much temper tantrum in the area. Starbucks had a lot of trouble with the palace management. Even though the Western coffee shop teared down the signboard, they had to close down completely in July. Instead a Chinese version of the coffee shop was created in the heart of the Forbidden city. An amazing thing about this Starbucks controversy is the fact that: it made internet users create a blog. I think this is very interesting indeed, because there has never been a similar situation in the beverage industry that attracted the attention of the zillions of customers. Image Credit: Guardian