People in China are not too happy with McDonald's as they opened an outlet in a historic site. As reported by CNN, the fast food giant opened a McCafe outlet in an 84-year old villa near West Lake in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in China.
The historical site was home to former Taiwanese leader Chiang Ching-kuo for a month before the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the Civil war to the Chinese Communist Party. Chiang Ching-kuo is also the son of former KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek.
The building was declared as a cultural relic. It was seized in 1949 when the Communist Party entered Hangzhou and used it as an employee residence until 2004. It was then converted into a private club until 2014 but closed down as part of an anti-corruption campaign by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Controversy arised when the McCafe outlet was opened in Nov. 15, as many locals viewed it as an act of Western cultural desecration, an example of Western cultures invading China.
This incident didn't happen for the first time. In 2000, Starbucks was under the same controversy when they opened a branch in the ancient Forbidden City in Beijing. The branch closed down after seven years of operation.
As required by the local Cultural Relics Bureau, the McCafe branch is decorated with posters of Chiang's life as a way of respecting the old building. There is also a rule that villas near West Lake can be converted into retail properties if their business does not use open flames, in which brands like Starbucks are not affected since they mostly use electricity in their day to day operations.
According to China Daily, the controversy started when the government received an application from McDonald's being able to turn the site into a McCafe branch. The public preferred that the property be reserved for history and culture, or should be utilized and be open to the public.