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No flat price for pancakes sold to foreigners at Great Wall

By Li Qian | November 15, 2013, Friday | Online Edition

VENDORS at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall in Beijing were found to be charging foreign visitors 65 yuan (US$10.66) for banana-and-chocolate crepes, more than three times the price charged Chinese visitors, Beijing Times reported.

But the vendors also were not telling the foreigners that they could buy a Chinese treat, jian bing, with the same baked pancakes filled with deep-fried dough-sticks, chopped green onions, and chili sauce for only 10 yuan. Other ingredients like lettuce and sausage also could be added. (In most of China, jian bing can be had for 3 yuan.)

Vendors said the Western-style crepes were especially made for foreigners, the report said.

Few of the foreign visitors were aware they were being overcharged and few had seen the regular price, which was listed inconspicuously, the report said.

“Chinese people can get one for just 20 yuan,” a female vendor told the newspaper regarding the banana crepes. The vendors also could be bargained down to 15 yuan, she said.

A management official with the Mutianyu Great Wall said it was a free market and they couldn’t intervene. “We are just responsible for maintaining order,” said an official surnamed Lin.

The pricing authority in Huairou District said the prices were up to the sellers. Local industrial and commercial authorities said they could only suggest that the sellers place the price tag where customers could easily find it.

But Guo Xiaonian, a Beijing lawyer, said the issue involved price discrimination and authorities had the right to stop the unfair trade and hand down punishments.

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