Starbucks in Beijing has ground to a close following months of intense pressure from a local television anchor who believes the Western coffee bar does not belong in the Forbidden City, an area of great historic and cultural tradition for the Chinese.

Located in the museum (the Forbidden City is a musuem), since 2000, the Starbucks location was being reconsidered for the site within months of opening. Under constant criticism, even from Westerners who visit, the Starbucks has stood out like a sore thumb. Since the beginning of the year, the typical Starbucks bunting has been discretely missing.

Eden Woon, Sr. VP for Starbucks in Greater China informs us that the museum has decided to introduce its own brand and that the separation was an amicable one.

The Forbidden City was known for many years as the Palace Museum and comprises 183 acres surrounded by a moat on the northern end of Tienanmen Square. It is fabled to have 9,999 rooms and was the home of Chinese emperors for centuries, as well as the seat of government. Since 1987 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The shop closed Friday morning, July 13th. On Saturday morning, newspapers lined the windows as workers began the process of converting the space to a souvenir shop.

"This was more a classic case of 'location' than anti-Western sentiment", Epicurus Chairman Robert Angelone noted. "Starbucks selected what seemed at the time to be the ultimate tourist destination, but its management could not foresee the vast sentimentality the Chinese have for the Forbidden City. We are sure that Starbucks will continue to operate and grow successfully in China."