Beijing, China,
Ancient manuscripts, sacred temples, centuries of tradition, oh and a Grande Latte, extra foam. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but right in the middle of Beijing's most culturally significant landmark, the famed Forbidden City there used to be a Starbucks coffee store.
If the entire site was kind of kitsch, I probably wouldn't have been so surprised- but it wasn't. The rest of the palace and grounds are kept blatantly free of advertising, fuzzy characters, dinner shows, animatronics or any other annoying amusement schemes. In fact it's worth every penny to get a guided or audio-tour, otherwise you'll end up helplessly confused and undoubtedly lost in the 7,800,000 square feet complex.
Built in 1420 for almost five centuries it served as the home the Chinese Emperor and his cohorts and kin. Following the abduction and overthrow of the last emperor, Puyi in 1924, the palace was turned over to the new Republic of China and with a few bumps along the road, eventually became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Today, the Forbidden City is the best glimpse back into the cultural, religious and political system that ruled China for generations.
Those palace walls that have stood for 500 years may no longer protect an antiquated system of government, but they do protect paintings, ceramics, and artifacts from the bulldozers of change that surround them. China is a country steeped in slumbering tradition that is moving to modernity at breakneck speed. Perhaps then, it was only appropriate to find a Starbucks in the middle of one of China's historic sites. Kind of a mashup of the country's conflicting past and present. The Chinese saw it differently though and following a popular campaign to oust the "Forbidden Starbucks", both the coffee company and the palace chose to part ways in 2007.
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