Many friends have recently sent me links to the fake Apple and IKEA store articles, knowing that I will soon leave for China to do a visual research and design project on Shanzhai, the Chinese counterfeit culture. Obviously, counterfeits from China are nothing new. What is new is that the knock-off phenomenon has given birth to its own design culture known as Shanzhai. It’s not just knock-off products anymore, but Shanzhai everything. The fake Apple stores are just the tip of the artificial iceberg.Shanzhai, literally meaning “mountain village,” is a loose term used for Chinese imitation and pirated goods, especially mobile phones. People started using it to describe a culture of copy, parody and mix-n-match about three years ago. The practice is not exclusive to only Western brands, there are many Shanzhai versions of popular Chinese brands, shows, and even celebrities. If there is demand for something—anything—there is a Shanzhai or “village version” of it.Here are a few examples from the mixed bag of Shanzhai:
The Marlboro phone (and other cigarette phones) generated some attention back in 2008 when they surfaced on the scene.Also in 2008, the Blockberry apparently found a new spokesperson in Barrack Obama. (If you are not 100% sure of the fakery here, just look for the backwards flag pin he’s wearing).There are multiple imitation Eiffel Towers, White Houses, and Mount Rushmores in different parts of China where people can practice taking tourist photos before they get to the real thing.And some neighborhoods even sport their own Epcot Center-like “English Town” or “Paris.”Hungry? Come eat at KFG or get a slice from Pizza Huh.Art, much like Nikes, is copied on a large scale in Dafen Village, where over 5000 skilled artists make a living by copying works of artists whose work is more sought after than their own.With cellphones, there have been plenty of other cool, legally questionable products to hit the counterfeit market. The Apple Peel, which was originally developed by two Chinese tech enthusiasts and Apple fans, allows users to transform their iPod Touch into an iPhone. Their latest version, Apple Peel v2, makes your iPod Touch look like an iPhone 4.As a designer, I’m naturally fascinated by Shanzhai and the way different brands are often mashed up together (as demonstrated by this classic Harry Potter Obama Sonic bag). It makes me think of anti-consumerist art movements like Culture Jamming. The motives of Shanzhai producers and Culture Jammers are obviously quite different—one is reacting against the consumerist culture while the other is attempting to capitalize on it—but the end results tend to look pretty similar and have similar effects: both make brands feel uneasy.The creative community has watched the Shanzhai phenomenon develop with no small degree of fascination. Recently, some artists have taken inspiration from this culture of copying in the creation of new works, which resulted in several exhibitions like a Shanzhai exhibition in Berlin and this Art Beijing show. In terms of product design, even world-renown design powerhouses like IDEO are looking to harness the creative potential of Shanzhai and dive into its potential contributions to the traditional design process and ways brands can make their products more pragmatic.Shanzhai is a new area of interest that the Western design and art world want to figure out and make somehow useful. That’s part of the reason I’m traveling to China to do this project around Shanzhai this year. I’m sure there will be much more Shanzhai to see, and more of those fake stores to spot out. So stay tuned!Jiashan Wu is a New York-based designer. She will travel to China for a year to do a visual research and design project on Shanzhai/counterfeit culture as a Fulbright fellow. She will miss New York very much while she’s away, mostly for the awesome encounters, bike rides in Manhattan traffic and getting yelled at by random strangers for not wearing a helmet. She will continue to bike in China, but with a helmet on this time.
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