When a? tourist from Beijing accompanied a Chinese friend
to the Forbidden City, they were not allowed to enter two shops in
the Forbidden City. The shops claimed they only welcomed foreign
tourists, not Chinese ones. Given that all shops aim to promote
themselves to bring in more customers, why did this happen?
These two shops are? located east of Shenwu Gate and next
to the Zhenfei Well respectively. After been repeatedly asked to
reveal identity, the journalist finally entered into the shops by
saying he was looking for his foreign friends.
The shops sell the "four treasures of the study": writing
brushes, ink sticks, ink slabs and paper. They also sell jewelry,
paintings and other art works at very high prices. A paper fan is
about 200 yuan, while a jade bracelet is several thousand yuan,
almost 10 times higher than products in other shops.
The reason these shops refuse entry to Chinese people is because
they think they know the real price, so a savvy Chinese shopper
might bargain too much and spoil the deal. These shops are
connected with travel agents, who earn commissions from the shops
too.
The service center of the Forbidden City have asked these two
shops to open to all customers and will continue further
investigation.
A lawyer surnamed Han at the Beijing Yuecheng law office said
the two shops have violated related regulations involving the
protection of the rights and interests of consumers. They
discriminate against both Chinese and foreigners, by barring entry
to Chinese people and cheating foreigners with their high
prices.
(CRI.com August 23, 2006)
