1. If anyone tells/shows/asks you anything on the street, it would be best to ignore and run away, if you're not adventurous. Most Chinese people will ignore you and go away because they have all tasted the negativity of interacting with random people.
one example: occasionally, someone riding a motorbike will drop a bag of goods, or cash, and then ride off. Then, another person comes along behind you and says to you: "hey, we both saw the stuff drop off the motorbiker, so let's be fair about it and split?" When you say OK, he will start stuffing some of the goods into his bag and your bag, and just as you're about to leave, the motorbiker comes back with a few more guys and asks to check both your bags. When they find the stuff in your bag, they will threaten to beat you up/take you to police if you don't give them more money either via wallet or going to the bank to withdraw some.
2. The following scenario has been repeated many times, and it happened to us.
When we were about to leave a hotel in Shanghai, two suited businessmen + a driver pull into the hotel driveway and start talking to one of us. He brings out three beautifully wrapped bags of metal guanyin tea, and says: "Hey! You are really in luck, because we were just driving by and we have some teas here to give to our superior, but as he is unavailable, we need to get rid of it another way because we are going back to Huang Shan today. I bought these for 600 Yuan each, but today I will sell to you for 100 Yuan each." They sounded convincing (but dumb at the same time, but convincingly friendly), so one of us said, whatever it's 300 Yuan, let's purchase it. As soon as one of us handed over the money, another one of us came out screaming, and at the same time, he and his friend quickly hopped back into the car with a small 'oh thank you' and sped away. The another one of us said, "If he really wanted to be friends, why would he speed away as soon as I came out?"
Later on we asked a tea guru friend who said that this case has happened many times in China. When my mum said to him: "But these men were suited, had a driver, and even had a valid mobile number on the business card (she called to TALK to him as politely as possible, and he still confirmed over the phone it was excellent tea)", the guru said these people are in the trade of conning people, so of course they look professional. The estimated price of one bag was 20 Yuan, so the three of them made a healthy profit of 240 Yuan in 5 minutes. Not too bad for people with no conscience.
3. When you buy things in the dark or in big areas of shade, some people will give you these as 20 Yuan note change. These look like Russian currency, but actually they are paper monopoly money! So stupid. Our tour guide said he will buyback ALL of these types of notes we receive from the shady sellers, as he feels embarrassed by this.
4. Some days you'll see 'masters' sitting next to a preset chess board and will ask bypassers to challenge them. The rule in this scenario below is that if the bypasser can defeat the master in 3 moves or less, he will give you back your money 10-fold.
The guy in red is the 'master'.
The challenger in black looks suspicious, because he placed a 200 Yuan bet 3 times in a row and lost. If the average wage for a Chinese is 1000-2000 Yuan/month, can he afford to lose 600 Yuan in 5 minutes?? It looks like they're in the same group, working together to trick money. Another guy standing next to me saw my mobile phone and threatened to hit me. But it was too late because I can now go home to solve this. Likely that it is not possible to win in 3 moves.
5. Sometimes you feel really jibbed when you (or i in this case) walk into a full looking restaurant, sit down, order, and then see all the patrons stand up and start cooking, cleaning, talking, and makes me think: "they were all...waiters??" But it is too late to walk out.
Reminds me of Zen's massage parlours where sometimes if you look closely, the people getting massaged are in Zen's massage uniform. I suppose it is hitting all 3 birds with one stone - owner not wasting acquired resources, workers receiving extra employment benefits, and makes Zen's look like a thriving business for potential business buyers.
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