Police arrest illegal cherry blossom ticket scalpers

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Hundreds of police in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, rushed to Wuhan University on Tuesday, to arrest eight ticket scalpers who offered to take tourists on a tour of the campus to enjoy the cherry blossoms.

Police rushed to Wuhan University and arrested ticket scalpers. /The Paper Photo

A video recording of a conversation between a ticket scalper and a tourist began to circulate on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo on Monday, attracting the attention of both netizens and local police.

In the video, a ticket scalper riding an electric motor asked a tourist whether she had made an appointment online. When the scalper found that she hadn’t, he claimed that he could take her into the campus from the back door for 40 yuan. Meanwhile, other scalpers could be seen in the video bringing tourists onto the campus.

A video shows the conversation between a ticket scalper and a tourist circulated on China's Twitter-like Weibo. /Snapshot of Pear Video

After receiving several reports from tourists and the media, local police paid high attention to the rampant ticket scalping outside Wuhan University and took action immediately. Dozens of police were dispatched in advance to investigate and confirm the suspects. Later, hundreds of police rushed to Wuhan University and caught eight ticket scalpers.

Local police arrest a ticket scalper. /Snapshot of Pear Video

Wuhan University is known for its beautiful cherry blossoms, which attract tens of thousands tourists from all over the country, every year.

In order to tackle the overcrowded conditions on the campus this year, Wuhan University implemented an online booking system, which worked in conjunction with facial recognition technology. Tourists need to register their ID information online and enter the campus with matching facial recognition with their ID, thus effectively restricting the number of tourists and keeping the visits in order.

However, as the entry is limited, ticket scalping began to emerge outside Wuhan University.

A ticket scalper at work. /Chutian Metropolis Daily

According to Chutian Metropolis Daily, it is common to see a lot of ticket scalpers waiting and looking for business outside Wuhan University. However, these scalpers are not reliable and cannot send tourists into the campus since the entrance has the aforementioned strict facial recognition system.

The instant response from Wuhan police won praise from the netizens.

“It is good to see local police react quickly this time. Ticket scalpers should be arrested and punished,” a Weibo user @yikeyuan commented.

“Only the local police can solve the severe ticket scalping issues in Wuhan University, and they acted effectively this time,” said another Weibo user @linhelin.

Several days ago, a video of a male visitor shaking a cherry blossom tree in order to produce cherry blossom rain in Wuhan University sparked widespread outrage on Chinese social media.