For one of the tour stop in Yangshou, we were taken to a jade factory. When the tour guide mentioned that the jewellery in the factory were expensive and reminded us not to buy, I was pretty impressed by her honesty then. Little did I knew that it was part of an act. First we were taken to a room where the sales lady started introducing the type of jades. Halfway through the talk, a young man who claimed to be the son of the boss came in and told the sales lady not to sell anything to us today. He claimed that he is getting married soon and a fortune-teller told him that he will not have a good marriage unless he starts doing good deeds. So for today, we were the lucky group who not need to buy anything and instead we will be given free gifts. All he was asking was blessings from us for his upcoming marriage. Uh-huh. Of course we gave him a round of blessings.
Then he showed us a series of red rubies which he just procured from Thailand. He claimed that they were of high quality and showed us a few methods to determine the authenticity of the rubies. He later claimed that since he liked all of us in the group, he was giving us a super great deal. An exclusive 50% discount off the rubies pendants and 80% discount off the jade pendants. The sales persons started getting or rather acting worried that they will suffer a loss at such low prices. The son of the boss comforted them and claimed that he will be accounted for the loss. All well planned like a TV drama.
My scam alert was blinking red and I stood aside watching warily. For those of us who were not interested on any purchase, we were quickly ushered out of the room in order not to affect the others. Later back in the tour bus, I heard from some of the tour members that it was common to see such selling method in China and the jewellery sold would be of poor quality. Hmmm.. I don't think the boss's son is getting married after all.
A Tian Ma Scam in Lugu?
On the way to Lugu Lake, you will see a lot of hawkers selling their wares along main tourist roads. One of the usual goods would be china herbs. On one occasion, I was attracted by a huge commotion in one of the stalls. It seemed that a tourist was commenting that the Tian Ma 天麻 in the basket were cultivated, of low quality and were overpriced. Of course, the hawker yelled at the tourist to back off . At this time, another man who claimed to be a friend of the tourist introduced the tourist as a physician from a famous TCM institution in Beijing and that his comments were credible.
The so-called physician then continued telling anyone who would listen on the many great usage of Tian Ma as a Chinese medicine. Then he pointed to another basket, stating that the Tian Ma inside were wild, rare and of good quality. He then told the hawker that he would buy some if the price was reduced by half. After much haggling, the hawker relented. At this point, some of the side listeners would be tempted to buy the same wild Tian Ma at that price too. What they don't know was that they had fallen into the selling trap. The fake Chinese physician had ganged up with the hawker and put up the act so that the customers would think that they had bought good quality stuff at a great bargain. How would I know? I had seen 4 round of similar acts throughout my China trip.
True fact: According to Eu Yan Sang website, Tian Ma is commonly used in migraines, numbness of limbs, childhood fits and dizziness.
Dried Lizards are traditional Chinese medicine and can be found at makeshift carts along tourist attractions in China.
A Strawberry Scam in Dali?
It would not be a scam if the lady had not bragged that her strawberries were organic and cultivated using spring water. Once on top of Cangshan, my strawberries became mushy and started to disintegrate into a pool of sticky red liquid. Then I realised that the strawberries were soaked in red coloured syrup. Later I found similar strawberries selling at half price in Dali Gucheng. Just Great.
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