Pilgrimage at IKEA (宜家) Beijing

Well, yes, after McDonald's in the 80s, Starbucks later, and many other international franchising, also Ikea landed in China. A sign of the more and more globalized China, where, in fact, only Google and Facebook still remain outside the Chinese borders…

And as in every country, visiting Ikea is a cultural experience.

In the States, for instance, it is said that the large glass vases for flowers were sold at an inexplicable rate - just to discover that Americans used them as steins for beers or sodas. Not surprising for those that had the opportunity to live in the States and know the Americans…

In China, we discovered that Chinese visit Ikea to take advantage of the air conditioning in summer, to have a pic-nic in the exposed tables during weekends, or to take a nap in the exposed beds in the afternoon…

For us, a pilgrimage to Ikea is a fundamental stop-over in every country we have lived in. And so, we paid visit to the Ikea Beijing as well.

Would you like a detailed report of the experience? Well, ask Tommy…