Beware.

Beware the friends-making strategies of the Chinese -- notably, the common practice of taking someone out to dinner. Now, it's one thing should the person in question treating you to a meal actually be an acquaintance, for then you can enjoy the meal and happily return the favor at a later date.

It's another thing if it's a complete stranger who plops herself down at your table where you are dining with two other foreigners, insists on a five-minute photo shoot with you and her boyfriend, and then insists on paying for your rather expensive meal (salads and soups cost a pretty penny, don't forget) in order to be friends despite your vehement objection to the contrary and, later, despite your sneaky attempt to "go to the bathroom" but really secretly to pay the bill since they're sitting at the table next to you and monitoring your interactions with the waitstaff, only they beat you to it by calling the waitress over while you're still planning your escape route.

Because -- should you accept this meal (and really, what else can you do? they insist they aren't "bad people" and just want to make friends) -- they will proceed to call you twelve times in the period of four hours looking for you at Golden Horse Square on a Friday night and send you numerous text messages inviting you to a rural farm to experience Chinese farming culture and to admire peach blossoms. And eventually, you will be expected to attend some kind of karaoke booze fest with them and a bunch more of their friends, watching middle-aged Chinese men belt out 80s crooner tunes like divas, while they choose the only English song the computer has, "My Heart Will Go On", for you to sing for them.

So -- beware!