I was shanghaied in Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai and decided to go for a walk through the peoples square on route to lunch. When we finished our lunch we headed back via the same route. On the way three young Chinese people stopped us and asked us where we were from, and since we have been approached by numerous other people asking the same question we stopped and answered them. We have commented to each other in the past how friendly the Chinese people are, and how many of them will go to great lengths to help you and make you feel welcome. Because of this we assumed that these people were just very nice guys meant no harm. Soon after we were chatting (the three of them spoke English very fluently with little accent) and they invited us to go with them to a tea house. Mike and Jake said they didn't care either way; I, enamored with the opportunity to hang out with locals, agreed to go with them. Once at the tea house they flashed a menu in front of us, but too quickly for us to really read it. Jake insisted to hear the prices again, and all they would say was that they were students, and that it would be very cheap because they couldn't afford a lot either. At this point Mike and Jake claimed to know what was up. They even were whispering to each other that something was wrong, but didn't tell me, or do anything about it. I was still oblivious, and just thought we were having tea. We sampled a few teas, and drank maybe a thimble full of each one. After each type of tea Jake continued to protest and hear about the prices, after three types they stopped giving us tea and handed us the bill. At first they wanted us, the rich Americans, to pay for it all. Obviously, I refused. The bill ended up being 144 RMB each, plus 176 for one of the girls who bought some for her parents. Just for some perspective our lunch, which was complete with two courses, and in a ritzy part of town was 8RMB, so 140 is silly expensive despite it only being $20. At this point I'm still oblivious to the whole thing, I just thought that wherever our new friends took us was way over priced, but seeing as it was only $20 I didn't really care or bat an eye. I even asked them to pose for a picture with us.After we paid they proceeded to walk us to the Bund (a touristy part of town). About three blocks into our walk they dropped us off claiming to have to meet up with a friend. It was at this point Jake told me I had been bamboozled. He was super angry. So angry he turned around and tried to find them. He did! Once he found them he told them he was on to them, and that they ripped us off. The three of them tried to protest and claim that they didn't, but Jake assured them he wasn't a fool. He told them he didn't want the money, and that he only wanted to tell them that he knew what was up and that they were all Assholes. Apparently two of them looked guilty and the other continued to protest when Jake just walked away. When Jake caught back up with Mike and I he told us what he had done. When we asked how he could be so certain they tricked us he said that he saw a sign in the hostel warning us about just such a rouse. Immediately Mike and I busted out laughing, because if he had read that sign why didn't he speak up when we were being lead to the tea house to begin with? We spent the rest of the evening agonizing over our blunder. And screaming "Rich" whenever anyone approached us (Note: Rich was the name of the guy who arranged our Great Wall trip and tried to screw us. We have now named all Chinese con-artists Rich).

In the end it really isn't too much money, its the fact that we were taken for a ride that bothers us.