As I have become more accustomed to the louder, larger foreign aspects of Beijing, I have started noticing smaller details. Recently I've noticed that what I originally thought was just random graffiti on the sidewalk is actually phone numbers, with several accompanying chinese characters. The number of digits in a Chinese phone number is different than at home, so perhaps you can excuse me for not realizing for so long!
I asked an officemate what the phone numbers were for, and apparently they are shady advertisements, selling anything from fake university degrees to work certificates to faux medicines. These are focused around the hospital where I work, which is sad because people who are desperately ill with cancer will try anything to get better, and so waste their money on crappy fake pills. Its sad that people will take advantage of the sick and desperate in that way -- but I guess other people are desperate for money too or they wouldn't be selling fake pills. Many of the numbers have been whited out, but then are written over again.
There are also quite a few numbers at every bus stop, I guess because people spend a lot of time there staring at the ground waiting for the bus. I think these are more often of the work certificate variety. Apparently Chinese degrees and certificates have an official number that allows potential employers to look them up, but they often do not, allowing people with a fancy piece of paper to slip through. There are people that sell fake degrees on the internet at home, but the advertising is not quite so ubiquitous as here.
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