Or maybe you’ve been scammed and just didn’t realize it.
Imagine walking around in, say, the Louvre. Then imagine A pretty french girl starts talking to you, shows you what looks like a big art studio, with art all over the walls. Not some little stand, like 2000 square feet, art covering the walls, not something you could put up and tear down in a few hours. Tells you a story about this being an exhibit for students at a major art school in the city. Can you imagine the administration of the Louvre allowing that? I can’t. But the Chinese that administer the Forbidden City allow it, no doubt taking a nice cut of the profits.
Walking around any major public space, particularly Tiananmen Square, was approached probably a couple dozen times by small groups, usually a couple of attractive young women, presumably just wanting to practice their english. I had read enough about their scams, so, while being polite, didn’t engage them to any degree.
You have the one advantage that you look like you belong there, even though they can probably tell from your dress and mannerisms than you aren’t a native.
This has been going on since I first went to Beijing, 27 years ago. An established business
No doubt. But it’s a fraud, and scam. That would be fine, and I’d be able to spot it a mile away, if it were not right in the middle of a national monument, clearly authorized by the government running the monument. Really, can you imagine this going on in the Smithsonian?
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