For almost 500 years, the Forbidden City served as the home of emperors, as well as the political center of the Chinese government. Upon the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor moved the capital from Beijing in the north to Nanjing in the south, and ordered that the Yuan palaces be burnt down. When his son became the emperor, he moved the capital back to Beijing, and construction began in 1406 of what would become the Forbidden City. After being the home of 24 emperors the Forbidden City ceased being the political center of China in 1912. The Forbidden City is the world's largest surviving palace complex and consists of 980 surviving buildings. The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 26 ft high city wall and a 20 ft deep by 170 ft wide moat.
After spending the afternoon in the heart of Beijing touring the Forbidden City, we decided to take a few minutes to visit Tian’anmen Square. Just outside the large gate, we were approached by a young, well dressed Chinese woman in her late 20’s who seemed interested in practicing her English. She first inquired about where we were from and then carried on some small talk about colleges in the United States. When it appeared that we wanted to go, she invited us to go get some tea with her, stating that she knew of a “nice little tea shop around the corner.” She seemed friendly enough, but I just got an uneasy feeling in my gut. I remembered something Brother Galer had told us about tea scams, during that first week we were here together in Beijing. My response to this woman was very Chinese: “改天吧。Maybe some other time.” (A polite way of saying ‘no’, I heard it a million times as a missionary)
She didn’t give up easily though, and kept pressuring us to go with her. She was very persistent, and had we not already made up our minds that we weren’t going with her, I probably would have said she was persuasive as well. After quite some effort on her part she couldn’t hold back the frustration in her voice as she practically shouted at me: “You are very stubborn!” My response probably could have been a little more elegant than “yup”, but it got the point across. As an end to the conversation I offered an exchange of email addresses, just in case she really was interested in just practicing English. That idea was bluntly turned down as she stormed off. It was quickly apparent that if we were interested in going to this tea shop, she didn’t want anything to do with us. What a day. When I arrived home I decided to do some research about these tea scams here in Beijing and I was surprised by the articles I found online. Here are some excerpts from a few articles I came across:
Beijing Tea Scam: Avoid Tea Houses near Forbidden City / Tiananmen Square:
I fell for the Beijing tea scam today. I speak decent Mandarin and am fully aware of these scams, but still fell for it because this couple I met was completely believable... They were great at conversation, spoke great English, seemed professional... Anyway, we ended up at this dingy upstairs teahouse seemingly quite by random. I was wary of the place, and they played it as though they were equally wary after we got in. In fact the guy was first to demand to know the price and said at the onset that we would share the bill. The menu said RMB 30/person for each kind of tea and the waitress kept pouring and serving all sorts of teas in tiny cups. I thought she was providing samples before we placed our order... didn't realize they were all effectively being ordered. The bill came to RMB 440 and I gave the waitress my credit card. They played the decimal place trick, bringing a statement that said RMB4400 instead of RMB440, which I pointed out right away and the woman insisted that the waitress correct immediately. So I finally ended up signing for RMB 440 just to get out of there. (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1846391)
We were walking from the Forbidden City at about 3:30 pm. At a junction we met a young Chinese couple who said hello. They were in their early 20's, very well presented, educated and friendly. We said hello back and then they engaged us in conversation, asking where we were from and saying they were English students. They said they were going for some tea, and did we want to join them so they could practice their English. They took us to a local cafe, where we chatted with them for a long time, and they seemed lovely. Then the bill arrived and it was 500 RMB. We complained it was far too high and the boy said we could pay by visa. The girl said they should have taken us to a cheaper café… We refused to pay but didn't really know what was going on, so in the end we paid 300 RMB and walked away, suspecting we had been scammed. (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2062262)
Here is the scam in short which might be useful to fellow travellers in PRC as a warning. I had been in Beijing less than a day, when I was approached by two Chinese girls. They were studying English and wanted to talk to me to improve their language. They were very friendly and being polite I started to talk to them… At a certain point the girls asked if we should go for some tea. I accepted to go with them to a nearby tea house…We were greeted by a Chinese host who lead us to a small room where she explained the various kinds of teas. Of course we tasted them all. It took more than an hour. When I got the bill for the three of us I got a real surprise!! It was almost 2,000 RMB (equivalent USD 260). Back on the street the girls soon decided to walk in a different direction. They had no more time they explained. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/586966-tea-house-scam-beijing-warning.html)
I fell for the Beijing Tea Scam where you are approached by a person claiming to want to practice english, then subtly lured to a Tea House that is hugely overpriced. The scam is so good I have learned that many other travelers have also been duped by this because it preys on the fact that you don’t want to insult anybody and generally are unfamiliar enough with the landscape, money, etc. that you just pay the bill. My bill was $85 for a few tea samples. I’m guessing some who fall for this never even realize that they have been scammed – rather just think they paid “a lot” for Tea. (http://joeduck.com/2008/04/18/beijing-tea-scam-avoid-the-si-zhu-xiang-tea-house-near-forbidden-city-tiananmen-square/)
No comments:
Post a Comment