Top US coffeehouses pull off face-changing stunt

Starbucks sees its cafes in China stimulating sales worth billions of dollars in recent years

At a recent Starbucks shareholder meeting in Seattle, Washington state, 11 baristas from Chengdu, 6,300 miles away, performed bian lian, a dramatic, operatic art of Sichuan province.

More than 2,800 admiring partners, shareholders, invited guests and Starbucks board members watched in rapt attention as the artists in bright costumes and multiple masks performed, changing from one mask to another in the blink of an eye.