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China is famously a hotbed of
copying. Western firms constantly
kvetch about Chinese knockoffs of
their productsand often with good
reason. Chinas intellectual property
laws are fairly strong, at least on
paper. The problem is that the laws
arent effectively enforced and its
an open question whether the
Chinese government is capable of
shutting down the copyists. Chinas
uneasy relationship with
intellectual-property law is due in
no small part to Chinas shanzhai
culture. What is shanzhai? The
literal meaning of the word is
mountain stronghold, but it has
come to connote imitation, and
more, imitation done in a way that is
upfront about its fakery and may
even be celebrated for it.
Shanzhai culture is incredibly
vibrant and shows no sign of slowing
down. Shanzhai cellphones, for
instance, are sometimes applauded
for their ingenuity. Some include
nifty features not seen on the
original they are imitating. Some
mash-up features found on
competing phones into a single
device. All are cheap.
There is a lot to say about shanzhai
in China, and well come back to this
in future posts. But here is a great
example. Wired is reporting that a
new Beijing building by starchitect
Zaha Hadid is being copied even as
the original is still under
construction:
A Beijing building project by
London-based architect Zaha
Hadid is proving so popular
that the structure is being
pirated elsewhere in the
country.
Hadids Wangjing Soho is an
office and retail complex which
uses three curved towers to
echo the intricate movements
of Chinese fans. But, according
to Der Spiegel, the architects
firm is being forced to compete
with pirates to get the original
structure finished before the
copy.
Even as we build one of
Zahas projects, it is being
replicated in Chongqing, said
Zhang Xin , the property
developer who commissioned
the structure. Everyone says
that China is a great copycat
country, and that it can copy
anything.
Hadid herself seems a little
more relaxed about the use of
her work, provided the results
contain a certain amount of
innovation, saying that could
be quite exciting.
The Hadid building is merely the tip
of the iceberg as far as Chinese
architectural copying is concerned.
China is full of copied buildings, in
particular classic Western European
designs. In fact, a forthcoming book
by Bianca Bosker , the senior tech
editor at the Huffington Post, is all
about this phenomenon: Original
Copies: Architectural Mimicry in
Contemporary China
tells the story of how entire
neighborhoods in China are made to
resemble, often in amazing detail,
small towns in Europe and famous
cities such as Venice.
Now of course this is not totally new,
nor totally Chinese. One of us lives
right near a place called Venice, CA,
that was explicitly designed to evoke
the great Italian city and its canals.
That said, Venice, CA is more a
gesture toward Venice, Italy than a
copy of it. The California canals
(many long paved over) are vaguely
reminiscent of those in Venice, and
the actual buildings look nothing
like Venice. The Chinese examples
Bosker discusses, by contrast, are
often exacting in their verisimilitude
and, moreover, dont hesitate to mix
and match from different eras and
places.
In this case, the Chinese developer
of the knockoff Hadid building
quickly responded to news reports
by incorporating the controversy into
his marketing materials and, in a
sense, owning it. Never meant to
copyOnly want to surpass, he
wrote. As Bosker said to us, this line
may sum a specifically Chinese take
on copying: its all about getting to
the best; whos first is not the
point.
Hadids own view is also interesting.
Her equanimity over being copied is
unusual, but it is probably wise. As
we argue in our recent book, The
Knockoff Economy: How Imitation
Sparks Innovation
, copies are authentic
advertisements: they show
convincingly that you are an
innovator who produces special
things. As Bosker told us, imitation
may be the fastest route to iconic.
and plz don't discuss about thread's quality coz i am using opera
copying. Western firms constantly
kvetch about Chinese knockoffs of
their productsand often with good
reason. Chinas intellectual property
laws are fairly strong, at least on
paper. The problem is that the laws
arent effectively enforced and its
an open question whether the
Chinese government is capable of
shutting down the copyists. Chinas
uneasy relationship with
intellectual-property law is due in
no small part to Chinas shanzhai
culture. What is shanzhai? The
literal meaning of the word is
mountain stronghold, but it has
come to connote imitation, and
more, imitation done in a way that is
upfront about its fakery and may
even be celebrated for it.
Shanzhai culture is incredibly
vibrant and shows no sign of slowing
down. Shanzhai cellphones, for
instance, are sometimes applauded
for their ingenuity. Some include
nifty features not seen on the
original they are imitating. Some
mash-up features found on
competing phones into a single
device. All are cheap.
There is a lot to say about shanzhai
in China, and well come back to this
in future posts. But here is a great
example. Wired is reporting that a
new Beijing building by starchitect
Zaha Hadid is being copied even as
the original is still under
construction:
A Beijing building project by
London-based architect Zaha
Hadid is proving so popular
that the structure is being
pirated elsewhere in the
country.
Hadids Wangjing Soho is an
office and retail complex which
uses three curved towers to
echo the intricate movements
of Chinese fans. But, according
to Der Spiegel, the architects
firm is being forced to compete
with pirates to get the original
structure finished before the
copy.
Even as we build one of
Zahas projects, it is being
replicated in Chongqing, said
Zhang Xin , the property
developer who commissioned
the structure. Everyone says
that China is a great copycat
country, and that it can copy
anything.
Hadid herself seems a little
more relaxed about the use of
her work, provided the results
contain a certain amount of
innovation, saying that could
be quite exciting.
The Hadid building is merely the tip
of the iceberg as far as Chinese
architectural copying is concerned.
China is full of copied buildings, in
particular classic Western European
designs. In fact, a forthcoming book
by Bianca Bosker , the senior tech
editor at the Huffington Post, is all
about this phenomenon: Original
Copies: Architectural Mimicry in
Contemporary China
tells the story of how entire
neighborhoods in China are made to
resemble, often in amazing detail,
small towns in Europe and famous
cities such as Venice.
Now of course this is not totally new,
nor totally Chinese. One of us lives
right near a place called Venice, CA,
that was explicitly designed to evoke
the great Italian city and its canals.
That said, Venice, CA is more a
gesture toward Venice, Italy than a
copy of it. The California canals
(many long paved over) are vaguely
reminiscent of those in Venice, and
the actual buildings look nothing
like Venice. The Chinese examples
Bosker discusses, by contrast, are
often exacting in their verisimilitude
and, moreover, dont hesitate to mix
and match from different eras and
places.
In this case, the Chinese developer
of the knockoff Hadid building
quickly responded to news reports
by incorporating the controversy into
his marketing materials and, in a
sense, owning it. Never meant to
copyOnly want to surpass, he
wrote. As Bosker said to us, this line
may sum a specifically Chinese take
on copying: its all about getting to
the best; whos first is not the
point.
Hadids own view is also interesting.
Her equanimity over being copied is
unusual, but it is probably wise. As
we argue in our recent book, The
Knockoff Economy: How Imitation
Sparks Innovation
, copies are authentic
advertisements: they show
convincingly that you are an
innovator who produces special
things. As Bosker told us, imitation
may be the fastest route to iconic.
and plz don't discuss about thread's quality coz i am using opera
