Shan Zhai Culture
April 15th, 2009
Submitted by: Xiaofei Song
Last time when I visited home in Beijing, the most topics my friend talked about is “Shan Zhai”. After come back to the states, I did some research on it and found that it is very interest phenomenon to share with the class.
Shan Zhai is the name of this type of product. There is not direct translation of this into English, but it basically means “Cloned”. This kind of cell phones are manufactured small factories in south of China. They copied the design and function of the newest branded cell phone without authorized and sold with very low price.
This phenomenon appeared several years ago. With more people desire to have the most up-dated cell phone, “Shan Zhai” has become more and more popular and developed into a subculture in China.
Please check this video and blog: “Shan Zhai Ji” in Google.cn Most Searched List
Please also check this article: Decoding Shan Zhai Ji - the opposite side of brand chasing
Here are my questions:
What do you think about this phenomenon?
Why “Shan Zhai Ji” becomes so popular?
Are you going to buy one during your trip in China?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, China
2 Comments Add your own
1. Simeon Trieu | April 16th, 2009 at 6:50 am
So interesting. I recently became aware of shan zhai on my Spring break trip to Beijing. The products aren’t just knockoffs. They sometimes IMPROVE the product features. Shan zhai is what happens when IP law is not strictly enforced. Although IP law is developing in China, to an amazingly workable level, the enforcement of such laws has always been the root problem in Chinese society for thousands of years. “The mountains are high, and Beijing is far away.”
But on the other hand, shan zhai often times improves the product features. Isn’t this just the market forces at work? A needed feature wasn’t there, and shan zhai fulfilled those needs. Take the iPhone and give it the form factor of a Razr, an ACTUAL razor, and the handsfree speaker of a Tilt, and you got Franken-Shan Zhai, a super phone that can do all because it can cross legal barriers to create better products. Of course, somebody else footed the R&D bill. But, if you can turn a profit without anyone noticing, why not?
2. Chris Carr | April 29th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Click HERE For today’s NY Times article that relates to Xiaofei’s post. Subject is cell phones. Good stuff.
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