Close The Door Behind You

Several times now Jason and I have been approached by strangers who have attempted to lure us into areas where they can show us traditional Chinese items–be it art or something else–presumably to sell us these items.

The first attempt to “trap” us took place on our very first day in Beijing. Jetlagged, we were hungry and looking for some easy food so we took a cab to Wangfujing Street, which is a popular pedestrian mall near the city center. We quickly found the famous “food on a stick” vendors and the many other popular Chinese shops, and we were also promptly approached by a young Chinese woman speaking really good English.

Food-on-a-stick vendors at Wangfujing Street.

She asked Jason several questions about where we were from, how long we’d been traveling, etc. and then she began to tell us about how she was an art student and that her and her peers were part of an exhibition that was just inside the building we were standing in front of. She wanted us to come inside and see the art, but Jason had read about such scams in our Frommer’s guide and quickly said no and moved us on our way.

Ironically enough we saw this same girl the next day. She recognized us right away and then again asked us to visit her exhibition. In a city of millions, what are the chances?

Us tourists like to lament on these experiences. In fact, we met a Canadian couple at breakfast the other morning who said they met a young art student in a park and followed him into an exhibition. Once they entered the room the door was closed behind them and they were offered tea. Our fellow Canadian eater said, “I was too afraid to drink the tea because I thought maybe there was something in it that would make me buy the art!”

Too funny.

Though I doubt the tea was any kind of magic, we have heard that if you drink the tea they will make you pay for it later.

Speaking of magical tea, yesterday while on a tour of the Ming Tombs and The Great Wall there were two portions of the tour that were designed to trap us into buying something. As Jason says, the term “tourist trap” has taken a literal meaning.

The first instance was while at the Ming Tombs. After visiting one of the tombs, the tour guide took us to the medical building. It was not the original, ancient building, but rather a replica of the building built fifty years ago. She showed us different pictures and samples of Chinese herbs and medications. Then we followed her into a small room where she had us look out a window and see what we Americans would call a nursing home. She explained the Communist system for retirement homes, and it was quite interesting–we both learned some things.

Then a few people in white coats entered the small room and shut the door behind them. All of us tourists were told to take a seat so that one of the doctors could talk to us about Chinese medicine. After the speech was over another set of doctors entered the room and we were invited to visit with them for a diagnosis of our health issues.

I was eager to participate because I think there is a lot of truth behind Chinese medicine, but after watching the people before me I realized it was just one huge sales pitch. They weren’t even really examining the people, they were just presenting them with a list of medicines to buy and they weren’t cheap either.

Once it became clear what was happening everyone on the tour began slipping out of the room one by one.

The next stop on our tour was a “government” restaurant where we were to have lunch. But first we went to the jade museum/shop to learn the difference between real and fake jade. Again it was interesting, but the goal was just for us to buy something.

It’s not just the official tours or random strangers in parks that trap the tourists. The other day when we were at The Forbidden Palace we were convinced to look at a special exhibition without even realizing that it was some kind of sales pitch. We assumed that since we were in the midst of such a large historical and cultural site that everything around us was significant. It wasn’t until we had been shuttled into a tiny room with tapestries covering the walls that we noticed they had shut the door and began to shove things in our faces.

Like Jason said, it wasn’t as sinister as he thought it would be, but it still seems a little too aggressive to make us want to buy anything.