Shanzhai

Shanzhai (山寨) is the Chinese neologism for “fake.” There are now also expressions such as shanzhaism (山寨主義), shanzhai culture (山寨文化), and shanzhai spirit (山寨精神). Today shanzhai encompasses all areas of life in China. There are shanzhai books, a shanzhai Nobel Prize, shanzhai movies, shanzhai politicians, and shanzhai stars. Initially the term was applied to cell phones. Shanzhai cell phones are forgeries of branded products such as Nokia or Samsung. They are sold under names such as Nokir, Samsing, or Anycat. But they are actually anything but crude forgeries. In terms of design and function they are hardly inferior to the original. Technological or aesthetic modifications give them their own identity. They are multifunctional and stylish. Shanzhai products are characterized in particular by a high degree of flexibility. For example, they can adapt very quickly to particular needs and situations, which is not possible for products made by large companies because of their long production cycles. The shanzhai fully exploits the situation’s potential. For this reason alone it represents a genuinely Chinese phenomenon.

The ingenuity of shanzhai products is frequently superior to that of the original. For example, one shanzhai cell phone has the additional function of being able to identify counterfeit money. In this way it has established itself as an original. The new emerges from surprising variations and combinations. The shanzhai illustrates a particularly type of creativity. Gradually its products depart from the original, until they mutate into originals themselves. Established labels are constantly modified. Adidas becomes Adidos, Adadas, Adadis, Adis, Dasida, and so on. A truly Dadaist game is being played

Does it make the product a fake if it shows the Apple mutating into incredible shapes, people growing wings, or the Puma learning to smoke? with these labels that not only initiates creativity but also parodically or subversively affects positions of economic power and monopolies. This is a combination of subversion and creation.

The word shanzhai literally means “mountain stronghold.” The famous novel Water Margin (shui hu zhuan, 水滸傳) tells how, during the Song dynasty, outlaws (peasants, officials, merchants, fishermen, officers, and monks) would hole up in a mountain stronghold to fight the corrupt regime. The literary context itself lends shanzhai a subversive dimension. Even examples of shanzhai on the Internet that parody the Party-controlled state media are interpreted  as  subversive acts directed against the monopoly of opinion and representation. Inherent in this interpretation is the hope that the shanzhai movement might deconstruct the power of state authority at the political level and release democratic energies. However, if we reduce shanzhai to its...