China Tour Scams| 5 min read

These are some of the typical scams to look out for:

• Tea Ceremonies: You are at a famous tourist spot, when a very polite young Chinese girl will start talking to you in English, saying that she was studying English at college, she liked it a lot, usually doesn’t have many chances to practice it and so she is very happy to meet you and make friends. She seems innocent enough, so you don’t mind her starting up a conversation with you. The pleasant young lady probably will offer her help to guide you through the old city, to teach you some authentic Chinese and the history etc. As you are walking & chatting you may be thinking this is interesting and fun, talking about any random topics, finding out little stories about Chinese culture and customs etc.

After a good hour of pleasant conversation the girl may ask you if you would like to see a “Traditional Tea Ceremony”. You may jump at the chance and will be taken to an apparently random nearby ceremonial tea house, where you will be served tea without being shown a menu or price. After having a nice chat, you’ll then be stuck with the bill, often up to four-digits in RMB for a pot of tea.
To avoid this scam, just say “no” and move on. If you do get caught, firmly walk away from the tea house, or simply paying a more reasonable amount works as well.

• Struggling artist: Another scenario that you may come across is someone introducing themselves as an art student, who will ask if you’d like to see some of their Chinese Art. Unknowing tourists who agree will be taken to an exhibition of calligraphy and pressured into buying paintings at ludicrous prices. If you see something you like, do not pay more than a few hundred RMB. They may say things like the piece you like is their masterpiece and they spent years on it, but do not oblige to pay any ridiculous price.
• Whilst strolling through the archways of the Temple of Heaven, you may be invited to play a game of bat and ball with one of the elderly folk who flock there. This seems like a fun experience to be able to mix with the locals, but keep in mind that once the game is over they may try and force you to pay for the privilege. You are of course not obliged to do any such thing.
• Sales shows: To non-Chinese speakers, organised tours are a good introduction to the famous sites. When you book a tour in Beijing, you pay a one-time price for the package tour, what you are not told, is the full agenda of the tour.

On the way to the Great Wall, Ming tombs, Buddhist temples or other nice places out of Beijing, you can experience some unexpected stopovers at “special places”: pearl, jade or cloisonné factories, friendship stores, tea house ceremonies or so called “Chinese Medicine Academies”. At these Chinese Medicine Academies, your group will be taken into a little medical room where white jacketed “Traditional Medicine doctors” will give you an introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine, will check your pulse, and recommend you some traditional cures and prescribe some herbal tablets, which are definitely so special that they are only available that day and only from their clinic!! These are fakes and expensive, so don’t get cheated. Chinese Traditional cures and herbs are really effective if they are original. If you do wish to purchase some of these, do so at a regular Chinese medicine shop.

These stops can get a bit tiresome – especially when you are keen to get to your destination – people will pressure you to spend money, but just politely make it clear you are not interested and the staff will leave you alone. Just keep a sense of humour and remember although they want to sell you something, you don’t have to buy.

These scams are only small hurdles a tourist can came across in China. Like any tourist destination in the world, there are people who will try to take advantage of foreigners who are unfamiliar with their surroundings and customs. The scams mentioned above are some of the ways people may try to make money out of tourists. Don’t let this put you off and if you exercise caution and use good judgement you should be fine and get the most out of your time in China.