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BEIJING - Beijing's Forbidden City may close its Starbucks in the face of growing protests that the presence of a US coffee shop in the former imperial palace is an insult to Chinese culture.
Rui Chenggang, an anchorman on state television channel CCTV9, wrote in his blog that Starbucks' presence at the Forbidden City was "not globalising, but trampling, Chinese culture".
A subsequent online campaign to drive Starbucks out had won the backing of more than half a million internet users, the China Daily reported.
"The museum is working with Starbucks to find a solution by this June in response to the protests," Xinhua news agency quoted museum spokesman Feng Nai'en as saying.
- REUTERS
