McDonald’s opened up shop in a historic Chinese home. Activists protest the new McCafe because it infringes on the historic site’s integrity. Hit the jump to see who set up shop in the same house with no problem.

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McDonald’s opened a McCafe in Hangzhou city near the West Lake. The Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo lived in the house before Communists ran his party out of China in 1949. Government officials say that since he didn’t live there long makes the site of little importance.

Liu Haisheng of the Zhejiang Provincial Government Offices Administration said,

“They lived in the house for only one month and almost nothing about them was left because many people moved in and out after them, so it is meaningless to turn it into an exhibition.”

However, protesters cry that the McCafe compromises the integrity of this site. The West Lake has appeared in Chinese art and poems for centuries.

Rong Yuzhong, secretary-general of the Hangzhou Ancient Capital Culture Research Association, said the McCafe is “inappropriate.”

“The old houses around West Lake are inseparable parts of the lake … Protection should always come first.  [The government] should preserve them properly and open them to the public to visit as museums.”

Meanwhile, Starbucks opened up in the same house two months ago. No one protested them.

Which would you rather have in your museum: McDonald’s or Starbucks?

Source: Fox