Published by Swiss James on 24 Jan 2008 at 12:07 pm
Fa Piao, Fa Piao mother
One of the first things most ex-pats learn about in Shanghai is the “Fa Piao”- the tax receipt.
These bills come in preset amounts (1, 5, 10 all the way up to at least 5,000 and probably beyond) that don’t describe the goods and services you’ve paid for, just how much you paid for them.
It’s a daft system that’s wide open to abuse, thus providing a useful introduction to Chinese culture for the new arrival. Examples of places you can get a Fa Piao include:
- market stalls selling fake hand bags,
- girly bars,
- people on the street who will sell you whatever amount you want for a 5% cut,
- KFC.
To encourage people to ask for these things, (and thus to force businesses to put everything through the till) there’s a little scratch-and-win silver panel on the right of the ticket, that I’ve ofen scratched and never won. Until last night, eating in a Turkish restaurant with friends, when we hit the jackpot.
Read it and weep (or get someone to translate for you) suckers- 10RMB!
The restaurant swapped the ticket for cash, we split the booty 6-ways and hit the town. P Diddy style.
YaoHua with the loot
Get in! how much was the fa piao for though? I take it you weren’t claiming expenses last night then, the fa piao was probably more valuable as a receipt
They’re also very annoying when you do your expenses claims as I usually end up with a whole load of pieces of paper but no idea which restaurant/hotel/dodgy KTV joint they relate to.
That said, Starbucks often give me a Y100 fapiao for a Y25 coffee, which is a bonus….
CP - I thought in Beijing even in Starbucks, you have to give the company name and they manually print out a fa piao which takes about 10 minutes. Only at the airport cafe have I got the tear off kind in Beijing.
James - fa piao just means tax receipt - they’re not always pre-printed it just saves time in bars and restaurants. Also, in Starbucks in Shanghai they are not pre-printed they correspond to the amount you spent and come straight from the till.
Is that Anadola on Heng Shan Rod? My fave all time Turkish restaurant in Shanghai by miles!
I was in Shanghai for three months before I received one of these. My parents had come over and we went to a nice restaurant. I felt like an idiot because I had no idea what it was. Thanks for at least explaining what the scratch off thing is. Since I’ve only received Fa Piao’s 2 or 3 times, I’ve never bothered to ask. (I’m a college student if that explains it)
dingle- there was group of us, and I’m trying to show some restraint by only claiming 8,000RMB for my own meal- so this one was left over
WoAi- that’s the one! Blooming heck they make a tasty kebab in there. The cheap stuff tastes better than the expensive stuff too- I’m going back soon.
CP- I know it’s annoying. Once I put in a load of receipts that had the details of the restaurant, how much the meal was etc. etc. The guy in accounts wrote back
“We don’t need all that crap so here it is back. I just bunged in a load of random Fa Piao to make up the numbers, so give me 800 extra the next time you claim something.”
Shell- aw bless!
Yep it’s the real deal and the “sandwich” kebab which is basically a wrap, costs 35 rmb and tastes great. Been going there for a while and was worried it might go out of business but it seems to be going from strength to strength and deservedly so.
I’m always perplexed when I travel to Beijing for one simple fact - I never remember my company’s name in Chinese. Well, sure I can say it, but I forget the characters - and usually I never have a business card. I’m terrible.
Story that is true, I know because I translated - a friend of mine got the store that he bought his xBox 360 to write the fa piao as “hard discs” - he had the slip the sales clerk an extra 100 RMB to do so. I think in the end he didn’t claim it, but . . . he almost got his company to pay for his xbox 360 (and about 30 games)
T - Do what I do - print off your Chinese company name on paper and laminate it and keep it in your wallet.
T- I know a guy (who will definitely remain nameless!) who expensed a 700 quid bill from a hooker bar in Ropongi as a network router.