From Netease:
Fake Buddhist nuns peddle their wares on the streets, specializing in conning young men and women’s money
In the streets, tea houses or parks of cities, two or three fake nuns or monks are often seen together. Each clutches a small red envelope, poorly made small trinket, or something they are trying to pass off as a Buddhist offering, and they make a dishonest living peddling these to young men and women. It seems that all of these people have come to Chengdu from other provinces. They spend about seventy or eighty yuan on a costume (clothes, hat, shoes), and do themselves up like poor nuns or pious monks. Taking advantage of the generosity of people’s hearts and their prayers for good luck, they easily reach their goal of conning people out of money. This kind of person, and professional beggars from other provinces, in truth usually make more money than labourers (judging by how they are portrayed in the media). Moreover after their “performance” is over, they drop their facade, and eat great food, drink alcohol, and laugh about how many honest sons and daughters offered them respect that day. At night they even go looking for xiaojie [prostitutes] to help them relax (reporter found this out by following them). This group of people have this civilized city’s “psoriasis”. A reminder to kind-hearted people, don’t be fooled.
Comments from Netease:
兵蚁
They are in a lot of large cities, mainly because comrades are too generous, their business is is so good.
ygj200998
What kind of social attitude is this? Fake? Real? It makes people distrustful of each other.
烧肉叔
They’re everywhere, the Shaolin Temple should come and take care of them.
8413
Real, fake, fake, real, there are all kinds of people.
applemei2008
A friend of mine was tricked once, first they says they’re giving you a gift, once you accept it, they ask for money. Once you give them one yuan that’s also unacceptable, you have to give a minimum of five yuan. It makes you so angry!
ds12345
Whenever I’d see them I’d ask them to recite scripture, as soon as they heard they’d say nothing, turn around and run away!
lxzai123
Have you noticed that they’re all old? (This is because) 1 You’ll take pity on them. 2 You’ll believe them. 3 because they put things so well. 3. If you die you need face or you’ll be punished!
h521179
At Baoshan district on Shangda road, in a high level complex there lives a group of fake monks. Every day they drive to “work” (tricking people), their living conditions are pretty good.
江南水城
It’s not that there are too many dishonest people, it’s that there are too many suckers among us.
牧郎
Nowadays the level of salary of monks and nuns is better than average, particularly monks. Every single one is fat!
aaa9bb9c9
A suggestion: learn a bit about Buddhism, then you’ll be able to tell fake nuns from real ones.
vvv638
You could show them Buddhist scripture, and get them to explain it. Test their knowledge! It’s easy to tell real from fake!
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So very shocking. Next we will learn that those Sanlitun beggar kids don’t get to keep the money drunken laowais give them!
now that’s just crazy talk
I remember visiting a tourist trap near Beijing. It was set up like an old small town. They had a temple there, and had fake monks who would bless people for a fee.
Not surprised. I’ve seen one in Seoul like that. The monk simply entered a restaurant and stood there hoping for customers to donate. The Korean who guided me around told me that monks are supposed to stay at temple or whatever.
LOL, asking them to recite scripture is good one.
Where I live there are monks who know when there is a group of Amaricans staying at the Holiday Inn. They pay 60 rmb every morning for a buffet breakfast then hit every Yank when they were eating their’s.
Ching ching!
Americans are the most stupid tourists ever, the monks seem to know this.
You have mistaken kindheartedness for stupidity. Because the fake nuns are Chinese does this make all Chinese lowlife thieves?
No…. I can’t believe this, we are talking about China, right..?
i see they “Taking advantage of the generosity of people’s hearts” in china?
they must make a fortune *cough* sheeesh
haha.. just saw a funny blog mentions chinasmack!
http://worstpeople.wordpress.com/
lol… he mentions the “authors” of ChinaSMACK… not sure if he means the translators or the actual original Chinese language authors…
In any case, inferring so much of people’s opinions from what they write is a mistake if you ask me.
why would nuns want to visit a biaozi?
“At night they even go looking for xiaojie [prostitutes] to help them relax (reporter found this out by following them).”
these are older ladies we are talking about,right? going at night looking for xiaojie?
The original didn’t mention explicitly, but I’d assume that it’s the fake monks he’s talking about.
I’m surprised that Chinese people are surprised by this. Most people I’ve talked to about this just shrug their shoulders, with a population as big as China’s there has been some people doing dirty work. There just isn’t enough jobs.
If the government spent less money coddling itself and more money on welfare they might see less of this kind of shit.. but at last, face is the ruler of all..
Goddamn it!! One more fake story.Is there something in China that isn’t fake ????
Yeah, imported goods. ;)
hahah.. who knows they are really “imported” :p
ya, their “shitty” attitude
I really hate this kind of person. They are the parasites of our civilized city. Why don’t hand them over to policemen and put them in court? It would better if the reporters were policemen as well.
Want to meet a fake nun (or monk)?
Try the chinaSMACK personals!
they should re enavt the law where scum like this can be sentenced to 5 years laogao.
only thing the verminous slimy low chinese people can be made to act human
fake monk.. real monk… about the same really…
the real ones just run the temple fairs… ceo monks… teehee
all my donations are done when i visit the temples only. rarely do i give out money in public. i don’t mind givin money to street entertainers & i don’t give money to those bums on the corner with a sign saying ‘help me i’m homeless’. way i see it, if u can read & write. go get a job.
Like what premier Zhu said, “Everything in China are fake, only fake things are real in china.”
a blessing or prayer from a fake monk is every bit as useful as one from a real monk. They use the same tactics as politicians and marketers. Instill a desire for something or a fear of losing something and you can make money from that person. I encountered this kind of monk in Shenzhen too.
I very proudly told a monk once that beggars can’t come inside the bar that I was working at
It’s very simple to tell true monk and nun from fake: they are only allowed to beg in early morning.
In practice, I have only seen this done in Japan, where it is used more as a method to instill humility than to actually secure nourishment.
The most humbling part is to actually EAT other people’s LEFTOVERS, for that’s what you get. Not money.