2015年CRI Scams Leave Visitors with Bitter Aftertaste during Golden Week

 

The most high-profile scandal took place at a restaurant in the coastal¹ city of Qingdao.

A tourist from Nanjing, surnamed Zhu, complained about being overcharged for a seafood² dinner.

"He asked us to pay over 21-hundred yuan when we finished the meal. I said that's too expensive but the owner said it's because each prawn³ was charged 38 yuan. I argued that we had checked with them about the price before ordering, but the owner refused to talk any longer and didn't let us go unless paying the bill."

Zhu says the restaurant owner threatened to beat up his entire family if they didn't foot the bill.

The restaurant has since been shut down and fined 90-thousand yuan.

An official with the market supervision⁴ administration in Qingdao has been suspended as a result.

Another notable scam took place in the popular backpackers city of Lijiang in Yunnan.

A tourist from Shenzhen, identified as Peng, was forced into spending 5-thousand yuan at a bar when he met up with a pair of women he met through WeChat.

Peng claims the two women took him to a bar and ordered six bottles of wine, but then later disappeared.

Traps such as these at tourist sites and during the holidays are still common in China.

Among the highest number of complaints are taxi drivers detouring⁵ to charge passengers more, and tour guides who get kickbacks⁶ by taking tourists to buy fake souvenirs.

A lack of help when someone does fall into a scam is also one of the biggest complaints.

In the case in Qingdao, the victim phoned both the local police and the price control watchdogs for help, but was eventually told by authorities to just pay the bill.

Lawyer Qiu Baochang says contacting the local police won't always work in cases like this.

"Price fraud is a form of civil dispute, which police aren't really equipped to deal with. Market regulators need to do more to eliminate cases like this. In this case, the local pricing watchdog would be responsible."

Tourism industry observers are warning that poor tourism services in China is starting to push more tourists to travel overseas.

South Korea, Thailand and Japan were the most popular destination for Chinese tourists during this past week-long National Day holiday.

Visits by Chinese tourist to South Korea increased by 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

3 prawn   

n.对虾，明虾

参考例句：

• I'm not very keen on fish, but prawn.我不是特别爱吃鱼，但爱吃对虾。
• Yesterday we ate prawn dish for lunch.昨天午餐我们吃了一盘对虾。

4 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

5 detouring   

绕道( detour的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So we fixed some factors which affect detouring flow. 通过相关的实验，确定了影响绕流的一些因素。

6 kickbacks   

n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 )；佣金，回扣

参考例句：

• Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣，在那里只有送红包，事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网