The recent news about a counterfeit Terracotta Warriors exhibition in a Xi'an suburb has shocked many. One can imagine fake perfumes and watches, but how to sell a bogus version of a world-famous landmark?

Obviously there are tourists with no habit of reading up on the sights they are going to visit, but rather, rely on whoever shows up at the exits of railway stations and offers his or her service as a guide. It never occurred to me these guides would take you to a place that pretends to be the real Terracotta Warriors pit, which, by the way, should have been easily recognizable.

There were signs that such venues were operating legally, though, which raised my suspicion about their nature.