Beware of scams in Beijing

Practic English--Tea House/Bar Scam

At some heavy tourist areas (like Tiananmen Square,Wangfujing Street,etc.),  you will be approached by one or two attractive females or gentlemen, who are  willing to have a natural and nice talk with you or even give you a free tour of hutong in a polite way. She/he will talk about the interesting things to do in Beijing, or talk about the culture or history of your home country and even world affairs!
Overjoyed by the chance to have a genuine Chinese encouter with a local,you entusiastically accept.You follow them to sample tea at a Chinese tea house or go to a bar/club where they will oder some tea/drinks.Later,you`re presented with an ye-popping bill,you will be shocked,several hundreds of US dollars.Now your new friend diappeared or they would like to share the bill with you.They will come back to collect their commission after you leave.

Art Students
Around Wangfujing Street,Tian`anmen Square,Forbiden City,you will be approached by some yung girls/boys.they tell you they are art students and there is a gallery nearby and just want to show you their paintings.Actually they will take you to an art shop selling all kinds of arts which you can easily find at market.They sell the arts at suprem high price.

Tips:
never follow strangers to tea house/bar/Art Gallery 
never agree service/never take drinks unless you know the price
no matter how  innocent they look or act,use common sence and trust your intuition.Just smile,say no and keep walking.

Rickshaw Scam
These scam heavily happened around Wangfujing Street,North gate of the Forbidden City and Houhai(Back Sea) Area.But probably anywhere around Beijing could be happened.For example:As we known,taking taxi is a kind of nightmare in Bejing,especially after a long walking distance at the Forbidden City,you could wait one hour to catch a taxi or you have to walk a long way to take a cab.You will be welcomed by pedicab driver when you walk out from the North Gate of Forbidden City.
After a negotiate price(e.g ￥30 by 3 fingers),you thought you have agreed the price with the pedicab drivers at ￥30per ride ,then later they will claim that you misunderstood and will demand much higher.Or they might try to claim that it is ￥30 per person or ￥300.Don`t expect there is some one rescue from the gathering crowd.

Tips:
you can walk away and leave the agreed cash in the seat  or you can pay before your ride or just take a taxi.


'Black' Taxi
While in Beijing,all the taxis license has a Chinese Symbol "京“ ,which means the capital of Beijing.The important is after"京"，the first letter is "B",this is the symbolize of legal taxi. but there are fake taxis with the same symbol.illegal taxis that make a good living overcharging foreigners which will be called "Black Taxi"."Black" doesn`t refer to the actual color of a taxi,just illegal.Once you get in,you`re at their hands.Sometimes,they will have a fake meter rigged to produce ridiculous rates.Some times when you pay at 100 bill,they return it to you to ask you change one and said this one is fake,probably they have changed the bill instead of the one you give them,or they drop you off at random places after collection their payday.Some drivers even drive off with luggage as soon as the passenger gets out.

These stories happened at legal taxi drivers as well,
'Black' taxis could be found around any where around Beijing,espically beware subway stations,shopping malls,major tourists sights such as Summer Palace,Forbidden City,Wangfujing Street,Houhai.

Tips:
keep away from taxi drivers who approach you in the terminal/out side of the terminal/street.
take a taxi that drives by on the street,do not take a cab who parked there and approched you.
Have smaller notes with you before you get in,tipping is not expected but accepted.
You will get a legal computerized receipt from a legal taxi which you can find the taxi company`s phone number.
Get a general idea of how much the fare should be.e.g from the airport to downtwon Beijing costs around RMB150 including airport toll gate,if you travel around the city inside the 5th Ring Road,RMB100 is enough.

Super Cheap Tours,Especially Great Wall tours
You will find someone offers super cheap tours around Wangfujing/Tian`anmen Square/Forbidden City .Once you are herded onto a bus, you are strapped in and out of your control.They will make their money on the commisions from all the various shops along the way(some disguised "tourist sights").Or they will ask you more on the way to the Great Wall,once you refused,you will be pushed out of the car.

Tips:
plan your trip ahead,get roughly idea about how much cost of the tour.


Vendors
You will find lots of vendors try to sell you something at supper cheap price when you tour around Temple of Heaven,Summer Palace.
Beware the change they give you back,fake money or some Japanese/Korean/Russian changes they give you.

Tips:
Walk away and say"Bu Yo" instead of "no"which means I don`t want it.They keep following you a long way if you just say no.