Sept 26, 2012
Translated by Zhu Na

Controversy regarding the opening of a new Starbucks outlet close to a famous Buddhist temple on the banks of Hangzhou's iconic West Lake last weekend reignited a topic that saw the American coffee chain booted out of the Forbidden City over five years ago.

However, media reports are now clarifying that the Starbucks is not actually located within the temple.

A reporter from China National Radio (CNR) recently interviewed Cai Rui (蔡瑞), a public relations manager at Starbucks, by phone.

Mr. Cai told CNR that the name "Starbucks Lingyin Temple Store" being circulated online was not accurate. Cai said the official name of the store is actually Starbucks Lingyin Road Store (星巴克灵隐路店), as that is the name they registered the business license under. Cai also said that it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk to the Starbucks from Lingyin Temple.
 
Wang Shan (王山), director of Lingyin Administration Office of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee, explained that a lot of misunderstanding has been caused by referring to the Starbucks as the Lingyin Temple outlet as everyone thought the store was located in the Temple, but actually it is not in the Lingyin Temple nor in the Lingyin scenic area.

In order to know how far exactly the Starbucks store away from Lingyin Temple, a reporter from CNR walked the Starbucks to the Temple. The reporter said she walked for about 1 km and along the way passed through a commercial zone which contained many restaurants, such as KFC, and some shops and hotels.

Wang also confirmed that the administration office had requested Starbucks stop refering to the store as the Lingyin Temple Store in their advertising, preferring that they use Lingyin Scenic Area Store instead.

Wang also said the area which Starbucks is located is in the tourist service area.

Links and Sources
China National Radio: 星巴克灵隐寺店开业惹争议 管理处澄清:并非开在寺中