Innovation or Imitation

“山寨 Shan-Zhai” Phenomenon in China

山寨 Shan-Zhai, is one of the most popular word in China in

the year 2008.

This word is originally from Cantonese, emerging at sixties in Hong

Kong, it represented the history of growing out of nothing of Hong
Kong manufactures. At that time, there were many tiny-scale, no-
equipments, no-management small workshops in Hong Kong, they
had to strive very hard to survive. For Hongkongese, “Shan-Zhai” is
the spirit that accomplishes today’s Hong Kong1.

In China mainland, “Shan-Zhai” means “small size, small scale, or

underground factory”. It represents “copycat, fake”; “quick, rapid
manufacturing”; the "Democracy of Goods". Shan-Zhai started in
year 2003 from copycats of mobile phone and soon expanded to
fake and knockoff consumer electronic manufacture industry,
became an economic phenomenon, but nowadays, almost
everything can be Shan-Zhai-ed, ranging from pharmaceuticals, to
the Olympic Bird’s Nest; from persons who mimic celebrities to
comedies that parody well-known films and TV sitcoms; therefore,
there are “Shan-Zhai” laptops, “Shah-Zhai” soap operas, “Shan-
Zhai” stars, and even a “Shan-Zhai” Spring Festival Gala.2 “Shan-
Zhai” spreads everywhere.

Chinese listed top 10 “Shan-Zhai” affairs in year 2008.

#1. Shan-Zhai Olympic Torch Replay, in Henan Province

QuickTimeª and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

1
Translated from Rose LvQiu’s blog. 闾丘露薇的博客
2
UPI Asia .com, <The unofficial, “shanzhai” China>
http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/01/20/the_unofficial_shanzhai_china/5501/
#2. Shan-Zhai Street in Nanjing
A brand new business street of all Shan-Zhai stores to sell Shan-Zhai
products appearing in Nanjing city. Days later, the street was
disappeared in the intervention of the local business administration
office.

#3. Shan-Zhai English Version of “Say a word in Heart”

“Say a word in heart” is a old Chinese pop song <说句心里话>. The
lyrics are translated into Shan-Zhai English (which means very
Chinglish).
“you don't carry gun，I don't carry gun（你不扛枪，我不扛枪）”、
“Say a word in heart, I think my home too, of ten think my mother
is white in hair…”

Also, the song is integrated into the film <Forrest Gump>, so it

looks like it is Tom Hanks is sing the song.

#4. Shan-Zhai search engine, BaiGooHoo (Bai Gu Hu)

It is an integrated search engine:
Bai is from Chinese search engine Baidu.com 百度;
Goo is from Google, and Chinese name Gu Ge 谷歌;
Hu is from Yahoo, and Chinese name Ya Hu 雅虎.

#5. Shan-Zhai film of <a Dream in Red Mansions> 红楼梦

This is the main character played by a young boy in Chongqing city.

#6. Shan-Zhai Jay Chou endorsed TV commercial

Jay Chou is one of the most popular pop singer in Asia, this young
boy looks alike Jay Chou very much. So the advertiser endorses him
in this commercial to catch more attention.

#7. Shan-Zhai Bird’s Nest in Hangzhou

10 local peasants spent 15 days to braid into a bamboo Bird’s Nest

in a ratio of 20:1 by using 800 bamboos, as facilities for sports, like
beach valleyball, archery, etc.
#8. Shan-Zhai celebrity
A college girl takes picture for herslef with funny, exaggerate poses
and dressing styles.

#9. Shan-Zhai Spring Festival Gala

This “shanzhai” Spring Festival gala is not simply a clone of the 25-
year-old traditional show presented by CCTV on Chinese Lunar New
Year’s eve. Instead, it makes fun of the official version, with
unknown actors and a program closely related to ordinary Chinese
to be broadcast over the Internet, the “shanzhai” gala could be
attractive as a non-mainstream and even anti-mainstream
alternative. But unfortunately, it was not allowed to be broadcasting
on internet at Chinese New Year Eve.

#10. Shan-Zhai website of Ministry of Human Resources and Social

Security of the People’s Republic of China

This is a totally fake website of MOHRSS. Since it is illegal, it was

shut down soon after it was discovered.
There is one more Shan-Zhai thing missing in the list, that is Shan-
Zhai national emblem of China.

This appreas in a county in Shanxi (陕西) Province, due to lack of

money to buy a good quality national emblem, the county has to
make one by themselves and hang in the public.

So, how Chinese see this Shan-Zhai phenomenon? There are many
debates coming out to present different point of views.

Low cost imitation damages innovation and intellectural

property

“Shan-Zhai is just copycat, clone, and piracy, its core is plagiarism;

it is “fake” culture, and it is infringement of copyright.”

The popularity of the “Shan-Zhai” culture may not be good for

China’s ambition to become an innovation-oriented nation. As the
“Shan-Zhai” concept originated in the business world where the
protection of intellectual property rights is the key to innovation, a
tolerance of “Shan-Zhai” products, if not the “Shan-Zhai” culture in
a broader perspective, sends a negative signal to enterprises that
diligently develop competitive technologies and products.3

For the long term, Shan-Zhai will damage China’s innovation.

Ruins fair competition in the market

Shan-Zhai also can be driven by consumerism and market, when

consumers find there are low price, affordable products that can
satisfy their needs for branded products, they will go for it. In this
case, Shan-Zhai robs the market share of original branded products,
and this is bad for fair competition.

For long term, Shan-Zhai won’t be able to preapre Chinese

companies well for global market competition, it is just the other
way round, it will put China’s economy in the situation of
manufactures only, for ever.

Grass-roots Innovation and remix culture

The rise of the “Shan-Zhai” culture represents a grass-root

innovation and spirit that has been becoming more cynical and even
rebellious.

“Shan-Zhai” products are not simply only copycats, it is mixture of

copycatting with innovation. For example, almost all Shan-Zhai
handsets are equipped with long lasting battery, interchangable
double sim card and double system; high PX digital camera, very
often, better equipment than those branded-products thanks to
much lower cost.
It also represents remix culture and out-of-the-box thinking, this can
3
UPI Asia .com, <The unofficial, “shanzhai” China>
http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/01/20/the_unofficial_shanzhai_china/5501/
be benefit for innovation.

Shows no confidence in China and Chinese culture

Shan-Zhai culture is against modernization and civilization, and it is

pseudo culture. It is all about consumerism and materialism. And it
is right abandonment of China’s original culture, and make China
become a nation full of fakes.

China and Chinese need make more efforts to develop original

innovation instead of copycatting.

Chinese version of “Garage Culture”

Shan-Zhai is Chinese version of American “garage Culture”. The

garage has a special place in the hearts and minds of US
entrepreneurs. Hewlett Packard famously started in the Thirties in a
garage in what would later become Silicon Valley. Since then, the
garage has become almost a symbol for the idea that anyone who
wants to set up a business should go ahead and try. Most of the
current giants of the IT industry started, if not in a garage, in a spare
room or in modest offices. Steve Jobs, Apple Computer's co-founder,
is another example of a "garage" entrepreneur; and Microsoft has
similar, humble origins.4 And Google as well.

So, take Shan-Zhai as the rbight future for China’s innovation.

In a word, the “Shan-Zhai” China is different from the China in its

official version, or even signifies a challenge to the official China. Of
course, it still remains to be seen whether “shanzhainization” is just
a passing controversial phenomenon or may lead to more
fundamental changes in China.5

4
<Guy Kawasaki: The garage culture comes to Britain>,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/guy-kawasaki-
the-garage-culture-comes-to-britain-694099.html
5
UPI Asia .com, <The unofficial, “shanzhai” China>
http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/01/20/the_unofficial_shanzhai_china/5501/