I experienced something like this back in 2002 in PRC, except it wasn't the Tea House. There were pairs of students who would walk around using the same line - they were art students and were practicing their English for an upcoming tour of the U.S. to show their art. Would I like to come see some of their art? Of course, I saw through it right away. This was in both Beijing and Guangzhou.

I also experienced another tourist "scam" in Hong Kong. I took one of the organized tours for which all the hotels have brochures. It was the 1/2 day tour of HK (there are 2-hour tours up to full-day excursions). The tour I took was a nice bus that went to the Man-Mo temple, up the peak, around the bay, over by the fishing boats, etc. - standard tourist spots. The brochure mentioned that the tour included a boat ride around the harbor that included a view of the Floating Chinese Restaurant. So we're on the boat, and after we leave the dock the woman driving the boat whips this sheet off of this stack of stuff in the middle of the floor, and it's a bunch of cheap crap to sell. Then - here's part of the "scam" - she stops about 100 yards from the dock on the way back and annouces, "you pay now." The brochure never mentioned that the boat ride was extra, and she made us all pay 50 HK$. Sure, only about $6 US, but she basically held us hostage until we all coughed up the dough.

Later on the tour, we stopped at a "jewelry factory." We were led into this room where it appeared that we would be shown nice examples of fine jewelry and a video presentation. Instead, we got to look through a window at someone making a ring and then went right into the shop. That was where we had the opportunity to buy jewelry directly from the factory. Only thing was, the jewelry was about twice as expensive as a Zales back home in the mall. The people in the shop kind of stood by the door and "encouraged" us to keep looking until it was clear that those who were going to buy had done so and the others just weren't going to buy. It was like an hour in this place.

Interestingly, I had the same "jewelry factory" experience on a bus tour in the Beijing area. We went to the Wall, the Summer Palace, and a jewelry factory. Should have know that something didn't fit.

But really, these kinds of things happen everywhere, not just in China. It's just good advice for any tourist to keep your guard up and watch out for all kinds of scams.