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China Scams: Shanghai Tea Ceremony Scam
Posted by Mike in China Living
Foreigners who travel to China have a lot to be excited about — as outlined in my top 10 Likes list, but this excitement should be combined with a bit of caution due to some of the notorious scams tailored to the foreign faces of China. I plan to take a look at some of these China scams in the next few months to keep, you, my reader, safe during your China experience.
The Shanghai Tea Ceremony Scam
One of the most popular locations for a foreigner in Shanghai is Nanjing Road. It has the light, it has the shopping, it has the food, it has the bund, and it has the scams. If you look and act like a foreigner around People’s Square, odds are that you will be approached by some younger Chinese girls and it will begin…
Chinese Girl 1: “Hi, where are you from?”
Foreigner: “I am from the USA”
Chinese Girl 2: “Oh, I love the USA! Are you here on vacation?”
Foreigner: “Yes…”
Chinese Girl 1: “So are we!”
…
Chinese Girl 1: “We heard about this nice tea ceremony nearby. It gives the full Shanghai experience. Want to join us?”
Foreigner: *thinking that he should get the Chinese experience and enjoying the company of Chinese girls* “Sure!”
What Happens Next…
The foreigner / foreigners (let’s just keep it plural for now) accompany the Chinese girls to a local tea shop where they sit and talk to the girls while having tea presented to them. Expecting the bill to be no more than 20 RMB a person, the foreigners don’t give much thought to the event and are happy to have the chance to experience the culture as insiders.
The problems arise when the bill appears and the foreigners see a bill of 200+ RMB per person. If the foreigners complain about the price, so do the girls. The girls reluctantly pay. Because the guys don’t want to look cheap in front of the girls, they do as well.
The foreign guys leave the ceremony with a funny feeling. They feel ripped off, they feel bad for the girls who paid too much, but they also got a bit of the Chinese culture. After thinking about it a bit, the foreigners figure they just paid for a story to tell their friends. Not a big deal and not worth ruining their vacation worrying about. This is, unless they accompany the girls to the acrobat show after the tea ceremony…
What Really Happens
The Chinese girls are employed by the tea store to bring in clueless foreigners to pay inflated prices for the tea ceremony. They know that single foreign males likely won’t turn down the advances of friendly Chinese girls and will have too much pride to complain about prices in front of girls, so they are the perfect candidate. The girls pay for the tea with money given to them from the tea shop and only pretend to be upset by the final cost. Later that day, they go back and get a portion of all revenue made.
What the Tea Scam Looks Like
Stories of the Tea Scam
When I first arrived in Shanghai I was approached by tea scammers a few times. They all had similar stories. While I actually wish I went with them one time to be able to tell the story first-hand, I can’t say I’ve experienced the actual tea ceremony. However, I’ve met two guys who had. The first guy I met in an airport. He had a 6 hour layover and decided to check out People’s Square. The above story happened to him. He felt a bit funny about paying so much, but overall thought the tea scam was a fun event. I felt bad for him, but it led me to realize that those getting scammed aren’t always aware of it, even when the scam is over. The second guy was one of my friends — same thing, complained that it was a bit expensive, but was actually gloating about how he met some local girls.
However, I read one story on Shanghai Expat regarding the tea ceremony scheme that is far more entertaining…
They were strolling along the Bund taking in the beautiful views of the construction near the intersection with East Nanjing Road when they were approached by two girls who wanted to take their picture with them, then they got chatting and the two scammers said they were from Hainan which my mates remembered as they said the “Hawaii of China” and then said they were going to watch a tea ceremony would they like to come….
So my mates being plonkers said yes and went with them to a tea house – 22 Tianjin Road to be exact – and before they knew it an hour had passed and they both paid 580RMB!! My friends are trolley dolleys like i was so they’ve been around the world, i thought they were smart. I kept saying ‘You wouldn’t go with some random you met in London so why do it in Shanghai?’
My friends didn’t actually have enough cash on them so the two scammers actually walked them to cash machine to get more out!!! Then followed them around for the next hour trying to get them to hire a car for day and drive around Shanghai on some tour, but they said they felt uneasy at that point
and were making excuses to get away.When i met them at the hotel and asked them what they’d been up to and they said “We had a tea ceremony” the look on my face must have said it all because they then admitted they didn’t feel right about paying that much, then i explained it was a scam etc etc and then with hindsight they could see all the warning signs and the things that weren’t quite right. They said they didn’t want to pay that much but felt under pressure because the scammers were so nice.
The story gets better… my mates were RAGING to say the least and went straight over to the hotel manager explained what happened and he was also angry….so he marched us to the police station, and then like some ruccus about to happen 3 police officers, the three of us, the hotel manager and two bell boys bowled down to the tea house – it was only 5 mins from the hotel – and basically went in, the two scammers were sitting there on their mobiles just having a chat with the other workers in there and then loads of shouting began and 5 minutes later they had their money back!!!!!!!!!
I was so impressed because i kept saying it was a lost cause, but my friends were soooo pissed off they were going to go down there with or without the police. But the look on the girls’ face when my friends returned with the police was priceless!!!! – Miss_T from ShanghaiExpat.com
Conclusion
The Shanghai Tea Scam is a popular, but not overly harmful scam. However, it is always fun to talk about. Do you have a story about this scam happening to you? Please tell in the comments section!
I have never experienced this one, but alll the time in Beijing you get asked to go to an “university art show.” Basically they will ask you to come view the students art, sometimes they will buy you a snack, or some other kind of incentive, be really nice, and then after you arrive tell you that these peices are for sale to support the students, usually at inflated prices. Similar situation i think.
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Mike Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Ahh, yes, they have this in Shanghai as well. I’ve gone in for the “art exhibit” before. I agree, there was nothing too problematic with this and the students were all really nice (2 girls, 1 guy for me). I didn’t buy anything and didn’t feel pressured to.
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This happened to me, too in Beijing. I was approached by 2 girls & 1 boy speaking near perfect english.
I will not make the story long: I paid USD 190 for the tea ceremony.
No more words…
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Mike Reply:
February 19th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Haha, thanks for your honesty and the story. It happens more than people care to admit. Just think that you paid for a funny China story.
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Hello, there!
I´m afraid we suffered this popular scam.
My girlfriend, German, and me, Spanish, were approached this afternoon near the hotel where we stay (my girlfriend works there and we live together at a hotel room) Two innocent and young Chinese girls said hello to us as we walked along yu garden area. Timidly they asked where we were from, what we were doing in Shanghai in a very good English considering Chinese standards. Then they asked us to join them for the tea ceremony (the literally said “to see the tea ceremony”). They couldn’t make it yesterday so they were coming back to give it another try. We decided to come along and 5 mins later we were in a very small room sitting and checking the tea list menu. The cheapest one was 48 RMB.
At that point I thought to myself: “well, one cup of tea and we’re out of here” However, before we couldn’t react or say anything, the ceremony started with the perfect explanations from one of the Chinese girls. We realized there were 6 jars containing 6 different kinds of tea. I thought we would end up paying a bit more (6 teas x 50). Afterwards we were showed another menu with the prices of different- sizes tea cans to take away. We didn’t buy anything. They both bought one. The bill was 1800 RMB. We paid 630 altogether. As we didn’t have cash, both girls and the ceremony girl accompanied us to the nearest ATM (I doubt that one was the nearest) We handed over the money and left a bit worried about the price we paid for the whole thing. At the end of the day, you feel morally forced to pay for the bill, even if that wasn’t what you expected. But you think to yourself: “It was my mistake not to have checked beforehand the exact amount I was going to pay”
2 hours later, the feeling of having been ripped off was growing so I checked on the internet and then It hit me. We were just another couple of foreigners who swallowed the bait :-(
Having travelled to many places I’ve found loads of people on the streets willing to help or start a conversation and many times It was the real thing as you get to discover the hidden sights of the city you’re visiting. I even stayed at many of those people houses with not a single bad experience.
Things I suspected:
- The girls knew too many complicated words related to tea and the whole process. Words she wouldn’t know another person with her level of English
- It seemed the girl knew the story by heart.
- The place from the outside looked like a plain shop with no tea signs or anything
Extra info:
- they were two English language students from northern China on a holiday (“skipping classes”) in Shanghai. They asked us about the city, what to do, where to go, I guess to make their story more believable.
- we took some pictures from the inside, some with the girls
We’are pretty upset about it and as I have time to spare (I’m studying Chinese just in the mornings) tomorrow I will be across the street from the shop waiting for some clueless foreigners to approach them and let them know my story. Two things can happen: Whether I get tired of waiting and go to a random food stall to stuff myself ;-) or I reached an “agreement” with the shop owners: I get my money back and I’m out of here.
I’m gonna take it as a game know. “You played with us, now It’s my turn to play with you” Fingers crossed.
I would appreciate some feedback from you guys. Anyway, spread the story to prevent others from being scammed.
Regards / saludos.
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Mike Reply:
March 31st, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Wow, thank you for the story on the Shanghai Tea Ceremony scam. I don’t know if it makes it better or worse to know that you are not alone. If you have a chance, I’d love to hear the conclusion to this story once you return.
Best of luck,
Mike
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mike2 Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:46 pm
It hit me, too. The same procedure, I paid 1500 RMB for 6 cups of tea and I hate myself that I did not read this before.
******* CHINESE
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Today something strange happened to me. I was alone on People´s Square and first 2 girls and 2 boys started to chat with me about Where am I from, If I like Shanghai, where I have been and so on. Later they suggest me to go with them to some restaurant for mooncake festival. I said no and 2 minutes after boy and girl have stopped me again with same story but they havent been speaking about teahouse or restaurant, just about some interesting places to see. Strange was, that I met them again at almost same place 15minutes after and then in a different place of park 10 minutes later……
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Mike Reply:
August 24th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
Interesting. Good thing you didn’t go with them. Whether it is a tea scam, bar, restaurant or show — anything that will cost money will likely be a scam if you are picked up around People’s Square. Thanks for sharing though — maybe this will help someone with a China scam.
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Just returned from Shanghai and unfortunately was taken by the same scam. Was my last day in China during a work trip, and I had a couple of hours to kill. Was approached by 2 girls in Yu gardens. Paid 600RMB for the tea ceremony and one box of tea. I felt funny about it afterwards, and then googled the tea ceremony and saw all of these comments. I am pretty angry and disappointed with myself. I’ve travelled all over the world, and have never had anything like this happen to me. I actually have photos of the two girls and their email addresses (‘In case we ever come to Canada, maybe you can show us around’), so i want to post their pictures and email the girls after to show them… if the email addresses are real. Oh well, chalk it up to part of the Chinese experience!
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Mike Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 8:56 am
Don’t hate yourself for it. We’ve all been taken by some form of scamming while here in China!
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Just had the same experience. They were really professional. I paid ~1000 RNB for the 6 cups of tea and got 2 packages of tea to take back to Germany. They accepted VISA :-) Good show! I also travelled to many places in the world before and didnot get scammed that way before. But: It´s my own fault that I didnot realize what happened. Anyway – I don´t hate myself because of beeing scammed. It could have been worse …
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Same thing happened to me. I was approached by two very nice and seemingly genuine university girls who wanted to talk to me in English. As a teacher in Korea, I didn’t see this as odd as that type of thing happens in Seoul. Long story short, scammed for 500RMB and didn’t even know it till being approached again with the same story an hour later near Yu gardens. I had to fly out that night, so I don’t even have the chance to go get my money back. Pretty pissed, but its my fault for being a bit too trusting.
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i was also a “victim” of this scam. it actually happened to me and two of my friends the day before yesterday.
two girls, who supposedly were from beijing, asked us to take a picture of them (at people’s square), then we started talking and they told us they were on their way to a chinese tea ceremony. they invited us to go, and after a short while we decided to join them. when we got there and i saw the prices i felt weird, but i just thought, maybe it is a little expensive, taking part in ceremonies like these.
well, the whole ceremony cost us 600 yuan each. after that the girls wanted us to join them for a performance of the shanghai acrobats. we were tired and wanted to go home. after a while, again, we decided to buy tickets for a show for the next day. they were 280 yuan each (front section).
so when we show up the next day for shanghai acrobats, 5 minutes late, we can’t see the girls anywhere. we decide to go in and see the show by ourselves. we never hward anything from the girls, and the email addresses we got from them were probably fake.
i liked the tea ceremony and the performance by the shanghai acrobats, but of course it wasn’t nice to be scemmed. but what’s done is done, at least we know better now :)
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I arrived in Shanghai a couple of days ago from the US on business. My coworkers don’t arrive until the weekend, so I decided to go out and explore the city. Long story short, I took a taxi to the subway station and rode the subway to People’s Square. I’m 6′4″, 40 y/o and white…in other words, a target. Within 5 minutes I was approached by some young people, and I just kept walking, never acknowledging them. I must’ve been approached 10 or more times walking down Nanjing Road…again, I never acknowledged any of them…just kept walking with a purpose. I finally arrived at the Bund and stopped to take a break while overlooking the river and Pudong. I also decided to finally take out my camera to snap some photos, knowing that this would make me a bigger target. Sure enough, I was approached by two young girls who asked me to take their photo. My guard immediately went up, but I played along. They began talking about how they are also traveling to Shanghai from elsewhere in China. It was actually a very pleasant conversation. Then it happened…they invited me to accompany them to a tea ceremony a few blocks away, so that I could experience the “real” China. I politely, but assuredly, informed them that I was there on business, and that I had to get back to work. I excused myself and walked away. I had read about this scam online, so I was overly-cautious about being approached. I literally had one conversation all day, and it was with a scammer. I walked back down the Nanjing Road gauntlet, being approached the whole way with merchants. Unfortunately, I actually wanted do do some casual shopping for my wife and daughters, but I felt as if I had to keep walking. The people were mostly harmless, and there’s no foul as long as I don’t take out my wallet. However, I just “knew” that I would’ve been swarmed if I had stopped to browse. It was fun to visit that area, but I’d feel more comfortable if I were accompanied by a local or a seasoned pro. Oddly enough, I ended up scamming myself before the day was over. I paid the first cabbie $20 USD for fare, because I assumed it was calculated in dollars as a convenience to me, and I didnt want to offend or upset him. He gladly accepted the $20. Later that day, I decided to pay the second cabbie in RMB, and that was the correct currency. I basically paid about 6-7x too much for the first ride. Oh well; chalk it up to experience. For the record, I’ve heard that pickpockets are rampant in Shanghai. I bought a cheap money belt ahead of my visit, and it gave me some confidence. I don’t think that I encountered any potential pickpockets, but the people tend to get very close to you by Western standards, so awareness is the order of the day…just an FYI. If you are non-Chinese, you will be approached multiple times. Depending on your comfort level, just keep walking and abandon your Western “politeness” for the moment. By the way, I found this little adventure to be very rewarding and exciting, and I would d it again without hesitation. Enjoy!
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