Chinese Tourists are Using Fake Military Documents to Get in Museums for Free

With hopes of gaining free entry into historical sites and museums, several Chinese tourists were discovered to be using fake military documents.

Authorities have reportedly caught hundreds of visitors from northern China who were attempting to get free tickets to enter popular tourist spots by using counterfeit military booklets, reported Shaanxi Television (via South China Morning Post ).

Military personnel are given free passes to such destinations. For everyone else, a museum ticket costs around 150 yuan ($22.50).

During the first two days of the National Day holiday on Saturday and Sunday, PLA soldiers manning the Terracotta Army Museum in Xian, Shaanxi province, have caught more than 200 offenders carrying counterfeit booklets that contained military certificates.

Officers said that identifying fake soldiers is not that difficult. Simply asking questionable individuals some questions about things considered “common knowledge” in the military usually gives them away.

“Are you serving in the military,” one officer asked a woman who claimed to be a military officer. “Do you know what rank it is?”

The woman, who just shook her head in response to the officer got her fake certificate confiscated.

While it is illegal for non-soldiers to carry military documents, those caught were not punished or questioned. Instead they were just told to pay for their tickets.