Shanghai'd

Scalper (literally "yellow cow" ... no idea why).

As opposed to scalpers in the US, huang niu in China actually sell tickets at far below face value. This begs the obvious question: how do they profit from the transaction?

Returning to Shanghai on New Year's eve, some friends invited us out to a countdown party. Apparently some big Mandopop star was performing a concert in the park near Xintiandi. I had never heard of him, but it was New Year's eve and a good excuse to stay up late and fight the impending jet lag for a few more hours.

My friend bought us 8 tickets total from 2 different huang niu at 30RMB a piece. It was definitely a hot ticket given the swarms of people climbing on the walls outside the park to catch a glimpse of the show.


At the entrance gate there was already some signs of trouble. Another concert goer was in a heated exchange with the security guards who were in the process of aggressively throwing him out. Fighting past him, we made it to the ticket check and discovered the answer to the question posed above: Chinese huang niu make money by selling fake tickets. 8 tickets, 2 different sellers, all frauds and we were out the door too.

I was able to keep my ticket while the others we being confiscated. I gotta give them credit for making pretty convincing replicas, complete with the raised RFID embedded in the right side. Good enough to take my friend, a local Shanghainese nonetheless.


Welcome back to Shanghai. Time to put the guard back up.