After class, I went with my USAC friend Claire to 570 West Nanjing Road, a fake market 4 levels tall. According to my Chinese teacher, only foreigners go to these malls. Either the Chinese have never heard of them, or don't really care to go. It seems that all of the booth vendors can speak English, or at least "Pretty lady, handbags, watches, Louis Vitton?". I remember when I went to a tourist market in Kenya, and one of the salesman could speak Chinese. When I asked him how he had learned, he said he had picked up Chinese from all of the Chinese tourists moving through the area. I wonder if it is the same case at the fake market. It is only at the fake markets, which attract foreigners, that most vendors can speak English, and seems likely that this ability was acquired through experience and the need to be able to communicate with their main consumer audience. My business professor said that large fake markets like this are still in operation mainly because the vendors work with corrupt officials. They will bribe the officials who are in charge or monitoring counterfeit activity to notify them of when the next site check will be so that they can close shop in advance.
I am currently taking a Chinese Business Ethics and Practices class here. Today, we discussed counterfeiting in China. This was especially interesting to me as I have been to several of the fake markets and taken advantage of the low prices and decent quality of counterfeit items. At these markets, it seems that everything can be counterfeited and the counterfeits stay up to trend. We discussed why counterfeiting is so prevalent in developing countries. In China for example, counterfeit production is widespread because of the lack of stricter punishment and laws to prevent it. The principles of economics state that as long as the benefits outweigh the costs, production will continue. We looked at the example of The Gillette Razor Blade Company infringement. In 1995, the Huaxing Razor Blade Factory(in China) was producing Gillette look-alike blades and supplying them in Gillette packaging. When Chinese authorities discovered the factory, they fined the company $3,500 and told the company that their illegal actions needed to stop. The company ignored the warning, and were fined again in 5 months for $3,300 when they continued to produce the blades. The lack of stricter action in China has led to widespread piracy and counterfeiting. As long as it is profitable, it will continue. In contrast, counterfeiting is less prevalent in developed countries such as the United States because the costs of illegal behavior are much higher.
After class, I went with my USAC friend Claire to 570 West Nanjing Road, a fake market 4 levels tall. According to my Chinese teacher, only foreigners go to these malls. Either the Chinese have never heard of them, or don't really care to go. It seems that all of the booth vendors can speak English, or at least "Pretty lady, handbags, watches, Louis Vitton?". I remember when I went to a tourist market in Kenya, and one of the salesman could speak Chinese. When I asked him how he had learned, he said he had picked up Chinese from all of the Chinese tourists moving through the area. I wonder if it is the same case at the fake market. It is only at the fake markets, which attract foreigners, that most vendors can speak English, and seems likely that this ability was acquired through experience and the need to be able to communicate with their main consumer audience. My business professor said that large fake markets like this are still in operation mainly because the vendors work with corrupt officials. They will bribe the officials who are in charge or monitoring counterfeit activity to notify them of when the next site check will be so that they can close shop in advance. Comments are closed.
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CHINA 2013
I am visiting China for 3 months this summer to visit relatives in Wuhan and study abroad at Shanghai University. Archives
August 2013
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