A Guide To Chinese Tourist Traps
While visiting the tourist destinations in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai, we’ve been baited into tourist traps a few times now. Here are some of the more memorable experiences.
- The “art exhibition” trap.
A young woman, who speaks flawless English, states that she is an art student and that her school is holding an exhibition nearby. She’s very engaging, and it’s hard to say “No.” We were tricked by a young woman inside the Forbidden City – once we entered the “exhibition room”, the door was quickly closed behind us. While we managed to escape, the more sinister tricksters will offer you tea and then demand an exorbitant payment for the tea you drank (and threaten legal problems or violence if you don’t pay).
- The “free chinese medicine clinic” trap.
When we visited the Ming Tombs, we were told that we would be following in the footsteps of the ancient Ming emperors who would rest from their travels at a nearby hospital. We were brought inside a “Traditional Chinese Medicine” clinic, given a 15-minute lecture about the benefits of ancient Chinese medicine, the diagnosis process, etc., and then invited to get a “free diagnosis” from a real-live Doctor of traditional medicine. The invitation, however, was false. The free diagnosis was nothing more than a sales pitch – “Your chi’s tell me that you sometimes have trouble sleeping – the shaved horn of a feral goal often helps. You can buy one months supply for 800 yuan – will that be cash or charge?”
The salesman in me admired their sales process, but it reeked of quackery.
- The “throw apples to the bears and pay after the fact” trap.
When we visited the Great Wall, there were bears performing tricks for food (pieces of apples). The apple pieces were sitting in plain site, and the temptation to throw them was overwhelming. Of course, the trouble is the man who owns the bears will charge you a lot more for apples you’ve thrown AFTER you’ve thrown them. As always, it’s best to ask if there’s a charge to do something before you begin.
- The “private taxi” trap.
Whenever you leave a toursit attraction in China, an army of souvenir pedalers and taxi drives assault you with offers for goods and services. The taxi drivers will walk you over to their black taxi, assure you that you’ll pay the metered rate [Travel tip #112: Before you get in a taxi anywhere in China, make certain they're going to charge you by the meter. Otherwise you'll be charged two or three times the meter rate.], and then shove you inside. Unfortunately, while the meter charges a very reasonable per km rate, the up-front fee for a “private taxi” is exorbitant. Think 5-10 times the rate for a normal taxi. Stay away from all-black cabs in China. If you happen to get tricked, don’t pay the huge rate. Instead, threaten to talk to the police – this worked quite well for some people we met.
- The “factory tour” trap.
I hesitate to use the word “trap” here, but the circumstances surrounding our many “free factory tours” are definitely suspicious. The scenario is simple – when you pay for a group tour to a place like the Terra-Cotta warriors, you’re often taken on short little “side tours” that seem to be worthwhile. We were told we could see how silk was made, learn about the history of jade (and how to spot fake jade), and even see the techniques used to build the Terra-Cotta Warriors. Our guide for the day would drop us off, excuse themselves, and dissapear for 20-45 minutes. During this time, we were “escorted” around the factory, given only a cursory explanation of the facility, and then offered a “special discount” on the goods in the factory showroom. Needless to say, the pricing was outrageous. I must admit, however, that I did manage to buy a few things (I bargained hard of course, but who knows how well I did).
Tourism, like most things in life, is an opportunity to be taken advantage of. If we hadn’t read-up on some of these scams beforehand we might have made an expensive mistake. Hopefully someone will find our experiences useful.
