Surreal Shanghai Story #2: Tea Ceremony Scam (March 1, 2011)

On my first day of traveling in Shanghai on March 1, 2011, I took a taxi from my hotel to The Bund (Huangpu River). My taxi driver didn't speak any English but was very friendly and even sang a song to me. My first impression of Shanghai people was very good!

Then once I got to the Bund on a bit of a windy day, I walked down the boardwalk that was parallel to the river and came across two young people in their 20s, a male and a female. They approached me first and asked where I was from, what I was doing in Shanghai, and said that they were college students from another province in China. Their main purpose was to travel around Shanghai. Then they had mentioned that it was a bit cold (which was true), and they were heading to a tea ceremony, and asked if I wanted to join them. Thinking that it seemed like a nice gesture and a great opportunity to experience Chinese culture, I didn't hesitate and accepted their offer.

As we were walking to this "tea ceremony" place, they told me that they liked Americans. They said they thought British people were a bit formal and felt Americans were a bit friendlier. Little did I know that they were just buttering me up to pretend that they wanted to become my friend. They laughed and we seemed to be having a wonderful conversation as we were strolling to this unknown place. I should not fail to mention that their English was impeccable. They were almost like native speakers and I had no problems conversing with them whatsoever.

Once we arrived at our destination, I was very underwhelmed. We walked into this very random building that had a small tea room as you can see in the picture above. Though the room was small, I expected the ceremony to be a great experience. We sat down and a lady in a qipao (pronounced CHEE-POW), which is a formal Chinese outfit, served us about five types of tea. I started enjoying the atmosphere with my new Chinese acquaintances and they even gave me a tea flower as a gift (nothing that special but I liked their generosity so I thought). This made me enjoy my first activity in Shanghai very much until the experience began to crash down on me.

After we all drank our tea, the male student asked if I could help pay for the girl since he said that Chinese men were very chivalrous and wouldn't allow the woman to pay for her drink or meal. I said "No problem. I don't mind helping out." Then he mentioned that we also had to pay for the room. Then a red flag popped into my head. I thought to myself, "We're actually going to pay for a room that is the size of my small bedroom at home?" Then the lady in the qipao and the two Chinese students discussed the price together in Chinese and I was starting to get concerned.

After the discussion ceased, the news came which felt like a punch to the gut. I can't remember how much it was in Chinese RMB at the time, but I still remember how much it was in US dollars. They asked me to pay $70. At that time, there were no smart phones and I didn't want to come off as an "ugly American", so I ended up paying for it.

Afterwards, they still pretended to be friendly with me and they even gave me their email addresses but something just didn't feel right. I felt like I had been taken advantage of, but I couldn't prove it at the time. They asked where I was going and I told them that I was heading to Yuyuan Gardens. They asked me if I wanted them to show me where it was but I declined. I was still feeling like I had been used. However, I really wasn't sure if it was them or if it was just an expensive "tea ceremony". We said our goodbyes and I was off to Yuyuan Gardens not feeling great that I blew away $70 with just one lousy tea experience in one hour.

I was dying of curiosity to find out if I had been scammed. I went the whole week searching for internet cafes and I couldn't find any, which was extremely weird. When I was in Beijing in 2007, they were everywhere. The government must have cracked down since then and it really frustrated me because I still couldn't figure out if those two people robbed me or not.

Ironically, two days later, I was walking outside of the Shanghai Museum and three young college students approached me (two men and one woman). They asked me if I had been to a tea ceremony before. I played dumb because I was curious if they would take me to the same kind of place or not, so I lied and said that I hadn't. We ended up walking inside this building that was definitely not meant for tourists. It was a bit dingy and the building had a very boring grey color inside. It had shops and floors like a shopping mall but the interior had no character whatsoever. Then we go up to the 5th floor of this random building. We walk for a couple minutes and we approach a door. As soon as they open the door, it looked like a carbon copy of my first experience two days prior to this experience. There was a lady in a qipao and the room looked exactly like the tea room I had been in before. I tell them, "Sorry guys. I've been to this kind of place before!" A normal response would have been "What? Where are you going?" However, their response was "Oh. Okay. See ya!" It was very strange and at that moment, I was 70% sure that this "tea ceremony" was a scam to lure foreigners.

When I got back to Korea, I did my research. And sure enough, it was a well known scam in China. I read a blog post that they even use singing rooms (Koreans call them "norae bangs". In China they're known as KTVs) as a way to take advantage of people. An Australian couple went out with five Chinese people and had drinks with them and sang with them in a private room. By the end of the night, the five Chinese people told them that they needed to pay $500. They were so afraid of their safety that they ended up paying for it all. I couldn't believe it and I was thankful that I had only lost $70. Be careful when you travel alone and always be on guard even if you're a man!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy