Starbucks "Invades" Lingyin Temple?

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks recently opened a new store beside Hangzhou’s West Lake Lingyin Temple, sparking much discussion. Watching mainland [China] news, it seems as if everyone is opposed to the move. The primary reason for opposition is that “Starbucks is an icon of American food culture, and [the move] is an invasion of Chinese traditional culture.”

Older Chinese readers may have seen the Hollywood classic “Tea and Sympathy,” released in 1956 and directed by the great Vincente Minnelli. The story follows a melancholy 17-year-old boy living at boarding school (John Kerr). He likes music, drama, art, flowers, sewing and cooking, but does not join in sports, dances or chasing girls, and so is seen as a “sissy” by his classmates, who shun him. As a result, he is isolated and lonely. The wife of the school’s gym teacher (Deborah Kerr) feels sorry for the boy and often invites him to drink tea, the two in the end developing a close but bittersweet relationship.

Everybody knows that Americans are addicted to coffee, but they also love drinking tea. Tea is second only to coffee as the most popular beverage, and tea is an “import product.” The movie is called “Tea and Sympathy,” not “Coffee and Sympathy,” or it would have received the attention of even more Americans.

China is where tea was first produced, which the world acknowledges. To say that Shennong (the Divine Farmer) discovered tea while tasting hundreds of herbs may not have any basis in historical fact, but the fact that “The Classic of Tea” was written by Lu Yu during the Tang Dynasty is unquestioned. Chinese tea leaves, trees, manufacturing techniques and drinking habits were spread with interaction between cultures, as well as commerce and trade. They first entered Japan and Korea, later spreading to Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and other countries via the southern sea route. After the 16th century, tea was introduced to countries throughout Europe and spread to Russia to the north.

Westerners love drinking tea, especially in the U.K. Eighty percent of people in the U.K. drink tea every day, with tea comprising half of the total amount of all beverages consumed. The U.K. does not produce tea domestically, yet leads the world in per capita amount spent on tea. Consequently, for a long period of time, it was also the largest importer of tea by a considerable margin.

Due to the importation of tea leaves during the Qing Dynasty, much of England’s silver flowed into China. England felt threatened, and began exporting opium to China to earn the silver back, finally culminating in the Opium Wars between the two countries. England also levied an extremely heavy tax on tea on its American colonies, prompting colonists to dump over 300 crates of tea leaves into the ocean from a British merchant ship at Boston Harbor; the American Revolution started soon afterward.

Europe’s other countries, such as France, are almost without exception tea-drinking countries. If one says that Starbucks is an “icon of American food culture” and is “an invasion of Chinese traditional culture,” then without question, tea is an icon of Chinese food culture, and our food culture has already invaded the entire world.

Not only tea, but Chinese cuisine is also quite popular in the U.S. and Europe. Chinese food, like French, Japanese and Italian cuisine, is a favorite pick of their food aficionados. It is said that the “chop suey” invented by Li Hongzhang is even more famous amongst diners in the U.S. Forgive my ignorance, but I have seemingly never heard them say that this is an invasion of Chinese food culture.

Starbucks entered Beijing’s Palace Museum in 2007 and was forced to pull out due to public opposition. According to others, its first store [in China] was set up with a Chinese name and also sold tea, but still sold coffee as usual, and went without incident. When Starbucks came to Lingyin Temple, it did not go into the temple’s interior, but was established on the commercial street outside of the temple, with a Kentucky Fried Chicken and other restaurants beside it. If one wishes to preserve the dignity and solemnity of the Palace Museum and Lingyin Temple, restaurants should not be opened either inside or outside; that is, rather than making determinations based on brand, no restaurants should be allowed to open.

It is just as with the title of a bestselling book in the U.S. — “The World Is Flat” — people, products, trade, culture, etc. will flow increasingly quickly and will inevitably clash with and influence each other, so we must be mentally prepared.

Furthermore, the reason why American restaurants such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, etc. are popular worldwide is because their food is always of the same quality, easy to order and convenient to carry, not because they were brought by the “strong ships and powerful cannons” [of imperialism]. If we truly wish to preserve and develop Chinese food, we must find a way to market ourselves, not reject others. For example, can our soy milk, sesame biscuits, mini steamed buns and “crab shell” cakes be fashioned into nutritious, delicious and convenient “fast food” that people in other countries crave? Taiwanese people in the industry developed a type of drink called “bubble tea,” which is popular on the mainland and areas with overseas Chinese, and seems to be gaining gradual acceptance amongst Westerners. Not long ago, there was a news report that McDonald’s has already started to offer bubble tea at locations in Germany.

China has many historical landmarks whose elegance, refinement and expansiveness are most likely incompatible with Starbucks and other foreign stores, but we do not need to look upon this as an “invasion of Chinese traditional culture.” If Chinese traditional culture is really that fragile, then there is not much to treasure.

Lingyin Temple was built during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the first year of the Xianhe Emperor’s reign (326 A.D.), established by the Indian monk Hui Li on his travels here. Buddhism, which has its origins in India, came into China and became China’s own. Perhaps we should view many things coming from the outside in the same way. Whether it is “Tea and Sympathy” or “Coffee and Sympathy,” we must first have tolerance and understanding.