What is ’shanzhai?’ Literally it means ‘mountain village’ or ‘mountain stronghold’ by bandits that were outside of government control, and now it has been making headlines everywhere in China and was assigned a new explanation to knock-off products. A ’shanzhai’ version products refers to products outside of government regulations that are widely spreaded in the numerous fake and knockoff electronics or commodities made in China today. It can also refer to stuffs that are improvised or home-made and are generally rough in both design and function (English equivalent may be ‘ghetto’). Originally the term of ’shanzhai’ is  from knock-off mobile phone in Shenzhen, a southern city nearby Hongkong.

‘Shanzhai’ is actually a culture of piracy, of infringement of copyrights. ‘Shanzhai’ products are manufactured without approval from the authorities, saving hundreds of thousands of yuan in license fees. However, they are packaged similar to genuine products to flood the market with low prices.
 
Because it’s cheap and in fashion, it becomes buzz word in Chinese grassroots. And it’s products took big share among low income or price sensitive consumers,  specially those in lower tier cities of China. 

Here is ’shanzhai’ KFC. Do you notice the grandma on the left side of the photo? Is she Colonel Sanders’ wife?

shanzhai KFC logo

Tags: Culture Matters, Shanzhai

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