SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2001
China shuts 'Beef Noodles Bin Laden'
BEIJING: A restaurant named for terrorism suspect Osama Bin Laden has been closed by authorities in China's Muslim northwest till the time it changes its name.
Beef Noodles Bin Laden closed this week just days after opening in the city of Lanzhou, a local official said on Saturday.
The city acted after residents complained about the name, said the state newspaper Workers' Daily. It said officials cited the restaurant's "unhealthy understanding of business culture."
The official of the Lanzhou commercial office, reached by telephone, couldn't confirm the reason for the closure. He gave his name only as Mr Feng.
It isn't the first business in Lanzhou to pick a politically charged name. Another restaurant named itself Saddam's Beef Noodles after the 1991 Gulf War, and is still doing a thriving business, the Workers' Daily said.
China has some 18 million Muslims, mostly in the northwest. The communist government worries about the influence of radical Islam, and has endorsed the US campaign to catch Bin Laden.
(Agencies)
Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.