Starbucks, you can see this logo in many places here. Who can tell me is there any meaning in this logo?? I mean that human-figure looks like some girl with long hair,oh…the Coffee Queen?? 
Here is the big view.
Once I heard a news like this: Starbucks set up another chain shop inside of the Summer Palace in Beijing. Some people were very angry with it. They said the managers of the Summer Palace should not let this “invading” coffee shop open inside of our treasure historical spot to “destroy” our culture. And they even made some statement to ask “the Starbucks” shop to move. Another culture collided event, another interesting social phenomenon.
I was equally upset when Starbucks arrived in Paris a few years back - but the French seem to like it…The logo is a twin-tailed mermaid (who used to bare her breasts, but in these politically correct times, she is decent ;-)))
I remember when I was in Beijing I usually started my day in the Starbucks near to the Italian Embassy.
The mermaid was supposed to be based on one of the sirens that seduced sailors to their deaths in Greek mythology. The coffee was supposed to be just as seductive. I guess maybe it is as it seems to be taken over the entire world!
I knew it was a mermaid, but I didn’t know about the history. This website has a nice article with pictures of how the logo evolved:
http://www.deadprogrammer.com/?p=1684
Jing, there is a starbucks inside the forbidden city/palace in Beijing too…I find it quite out of palace and it just doens’t look right inside the palace…
i’m a coffee junkie and spending time in cafés is one of my fave past time. Like lisi said perhaps it out of place inside the palace..
Jing,
MacDonalds and Starbucks - excuse my language, but they are getting as common as horse shit, it’s everywhere these days! Ha, Ha.
Yes, it is everywhere. Do you drink Starbucks, Jing?
yes…Norma.
but not so often…
i like tea a little bit more, drink it everyday….and coffee makes me awake till the midnight….
I have never heart about Starbucks, but I would like to tell you, that MacDonalds is leaving from Finland, because we have own, Finnish Hesburger, which have been a good competitor.
I must say, I am glad:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesburger
that news about starbucks in beijing made into the TV news here too.
Someone had an ax to grind (and perhaps free publicity to get) when he started to rant about the Forbidden City Starbucks…I think that this is what this “controversy” is all about.
For one thing, it’s been there for a LONG time. Why whine about it now? Why not when it first went in? I don’t get to Beijing often, but the last time I went was at least 3 years ago and the Starbucks was already there.
I thought it was a bit unusual, but if that Starbucks there pays rent and helps the Forbidden City (erm, the Palace Museum) in the process, I’ve no problem with it.