Coffee and Incense: Why They Shouldn’t Be Mixed

Published: Oct 06, 2026 Author: World Gafei Last Updated: Oct/06/2026 127 views

Starbucks opened near Hangzhou’s Lingyin Temple, sparking debate. But the coffee shop isn’t inside the temple — it’s in the surrounding tourist zone.

It started with a simple question after a night of autumn rain and the scent of osmanthus filled the air in Hangzhou: why is there a Starbucks opening right by a famous Buddhist temple? On September 22, when news broke that a Starbucks had launched inside the Lingyin Scenic Area — just a kilometre from the actual Lingyin Temple — social media lit up with criticism. Was this a disrespectful intrusion of Western commercialism into a sacred space?

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