• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

中国Power !!!

Microsoft

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Chinese Military FAKE Drill Stolen Footage From Movie 'Top Gun'



[video=youtube;LXolQnOglKE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LXolQnOglKE[/video]
 

singveld

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
wow so much attack on ah tiong, too bad ah tiong english no good, dun come to this site, if they find out, it will be very big WAR here.
 

youtalkcock

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I7JSCul8SBU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

youtalkcock

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset

Fake Morgan Dollars Made in China

From Susan Headley, former About.com Guide

<q style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"> </q><q style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; quotes: '', ''; "></q>

Counterfeit Morgan Dollars made by a major Chinese fake coin operation.
<cite style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; color: rgb(125, 125, 125); display: block; font: italic normal normal 11px/1.6 Verdana; ">Photo courtesy of Jinghua Shei.</cite>

Here's a close-up image of a few freshly-minted fake Morgan Dollars struck in China.

I don't know if they were struck by the coin press on the previous page, or one of the several other coin presses this counterfeiting ring has, but those fake Morgans sure look to be pretty high-quality counterfeits.

Of course, this counterfeiting ring will process them so that each one appears to have a different amount of wear, toning, contact marks, and other minor imperfections so that they don't all look too much alike.

Some of these fake Morgan Dollars will also find their way into counterfeit PCGS and NGC slabs, but my sources tell me that most of the fakes these counterfeiters sell are sold "raw" (rather than slabbed.)


 

youtalkcock

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset

Fake Silver Dollars From China


<center>


China is a great nation with a rich heritage, and all of the Chinese people I've met have been honorable. Yet China has a major problem with fakery, a problem for the rest of the world as well as itself. China is the world's capital of counterfeiting, with coins, antiquities, fossils, computer software, music CDs, movie DVDs, books, paintings, clothes, sneakers, jewelry, watches, handbags, toys, sporting goods, film, batteries, food, baby formula, pet food, medicine, cars, car parts, trucks, and much else.

The Chinese make these goods, copying a major brand. But instead of putting their own label or logo on any given product, they put the brand's logo on the product to try to fool consumers into thinking that the company behind the brand, and not the Chinese copyist, made it. They often succeed. China is the worst country in the world in terms of counterfeiting, according to the
International Intellectual Property Alliance, with Russia, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, India, Taiwan, and Portugal following in order. China not only is the worst country in the world, it appears to make far more counterfeits than all the other countries in the world combined. China is the source of about 80 percent of all counterfeit goods seized at U.S. ports by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. Entire factories, even entire towns in China, have been built specifically to produce counterfeit goods.

According to Dan Chow, a law professor at Ohio State University who specializes in Chinese counterfeiting and who was quoted in a
CBS News story, "We have never seen a problem of this size and magnitude in world history. There's more counterfeiting going on in China now than we've ever seen anywhere. We know that 15 to 20 percent of all goods in China are counterfeit." According to attorney Harley Lewin, who has been going after counterfeiters from China for more than 20 years and who was quoted in the same CBS News story, "[Chinese counterfeiting] is the most profitable criminal venture, as far as I know, on Earth."

China has a big problem with counterfeiting of its own currency, paper money as well as coins, according to counterfeit expert
Robert Matthews. The Chinese police periodically seize fake large quantities of Chinese notes and coins.

China also has a big problem with the faking of its own past. Chinese antiquities shops and markets consist almost entirely of fakes, as reported in an article at the
China Daily Web site. Professor Yang Jingrong stated that 95 percent of all antiquities sold in China are modern forgeries. Chinese antiquities shopkeepers for the most part appear to knowingly sell fakes as authentic under the subterfuge that it's the buyer's responsibility to determine authenticity.

Many Chinese counterfeit goods are shoddy or dangerous, using low-grade components or ingredients. Chinese imports into the U.S. in general account for more than 60 percent of product recalls by the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Chinese consumers also suffer from shoddy counterfeits. Horrible incidents have been reported multiple times in the news of dozens to hundreds of Chinese babies dying or getting sick after being fed counterfeit baby formula, laced with a deadly chemical to make a diluted product appear to have a higher protein content.

The 2008 Olympics demonstrated to the world just how ingrained fakery is in Chinese society today. China faked the opening ceremony, using digital effects for the televised proceedings instead of real fireworks, as later revealed by a Chinese newspaper; it faked its "national unity" parade by contending that children wearing costumes of different ethnic groups consisted of ethnic minorities when in fact they were all of the Han majority; and it even faked the age of its female gymnists, breaking the Olympic rules, to let underage children compete.

The problem of Chinese counterfeiting has gone on for years and appears to just worsen over time. Fakery in China seems to be official government policy or at least officially tolerated. Whenever major news of Chinese counterfeiting surfaces in the West, the Chinese government takes highly publicized and sometimes dramatic but ultimately superficial steps to try to stop it. The true nature of official Chinese attitudes is more likely along the lines of statements from Chinese officials saying that counterfeiting is the cost that foreign companies must pay to be able to do business in China.

Chinese officials have also been quoted as saying the international press exaggerates the issue, and they have accused Chinese journalists of faking news reports of fake Chinese goods. Chinese journalists have in fact been caught faking. But much bigger than the problem of faking by Chinese journalists is the problem of faking in Chinese society as a whole.

China is a developing country and doesn't appear to recognize international law regarding intellectual property. To the Chinese, copying is entrepreneurship, with copyrights, trademarks, and patents being foreign concepts and largely ignored. Chinese society as a whole in its energetic drive toward economic prosperity seems to have chosen fakery as a shortcut, ignoring conventions in the rest of the civilized world.

When Japan was transforming itself into an industrial power in the years following World War Two, it also competed by making low-cost goods. But for the most part it didn't try to deceive by putting fake labels of companies from other countries on these products and trying to create the impression that these goods are of the same quality as those put out by these companies and are warranted by them. Japan proudly labeled its low-cost goods as "Made in Japan" rather than using fake labels as China does.

On the other hand, China has a rich cultural, scientific, and intellectual heritage. From the time of Confucius and Lao-Tzu, China has contributed to the betterment of civilization. Today, China also makes many authentic, original goods.

Coinage has a long history in China, with the first Chinese coins thought to have been minted at about the same time as the first coins in Asia Minor.

The following six silver dollar forgeries were bought in China by a businessman at a flea market from a Chinese seller who was selling them as authentic old U.S. coins. The seller's asking price for these pieces was the equivalent of about $28 each. The businessman wound up buying them for less than $1 each, which of course is less than their face value. The businessman emailed me their images to help in the counterfeit education effort.

The 1804 dollar fake below is the same type as the 1800 fake that I call "Lightweight" on the
previous page of this site. All of these fakes appear to have come from the same forgery workshop, which would mean that they're made of copper-nickel, not silver, and weigh between 18 and 21 grams, substantially less than the correct weight of around 27 grams.

Fakes of this type regularly appear on eBay, sometimes sold as fakes, sometimes sold as replicas, sometimes sold as authentic coins, sometimes sold as coins that the seller found in his grandmother's attic, and though he doesn't know if they're real or not, they sure look old to him. Many other Chinese counterfeits of U.S. dollars and other coins are out there as well, put out by other Chinese forgery factories. Some coin dealers in California report receiving about one phone call a day asking whether the old U.S. coins the person just bought on the street are real. One person emailed me about a dozen U.S. silver dollars he bought "cheap" in California that turned out to be magnetic, indicating an iron content, which no authentic U.S. dollar coins have.

Some Chinese forgery criminals sell marked replicas on eBay in large quantities. According to several people, all you have to do is ask and the Chinese seller will sell the same pieces to you not marked as replicas. Legitimate replica makers refuse to do this. The quality reportedly ranges from very obvious to very deceptive. Chinese forgery factories appear to be using eBay in this way to find wholesale buyers of their work. This has the potential of flooding the world's collectibles markets with ever more Chinese fakes.

1804_China_o.jpg

1804_China_r.jpg
1804 Draped Bust dollar forgery

1848-O_o.jpg

1848-O_r.jpg
1848-O Liberty Seated dollar forgery (no silver dollars were minted in New Orleans in 1848)

1877_o.jpg

1877_r.jpg
1877 Trade dollar forgery

1879-S_o.jpg

1879-S_r.jpg
1879-S Trade dollar forgery

1885-S_o.jpg

1885-S_r.jpg
1885-S Morgan dollar forgery

1922_o.jpg

1922_r.jpg
1922 Peace dollar forgery

<tbody>
</tbody>




<tbody>
</tbody>




</center>

 

youtalkcock

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset

How to Detect Fake Chinese Money


Counterfeit money in China is a problem. Fake money for one Yuan coins to 100 Yuan bills were found in circulation in China. Many Chinese people even have a problem in detecting fake money. Foreigners are easier victims. But here I am going to teach you how to detect fake Chines money, simply and easily so that you don't even need a counterfeit money detector!
Chinese Currency: Rinminbi (The people's money), short as RMB. The symbol for Chinese currency is
rmb.gif
. Chinese currency includes bills and coins.


Pictures of Chinese Money


Picture of Chinese bills (1999 series and 2005 series with main anti-counterfeit money features. Click the picture to enlarge.)



Picture of Chinese coins

coins.jpg


Compare Chinese money: The paper banknotes below are used real and fake 100 bills and 50 bills. 100 Yuan bill and 50 Yuan bill on the left are real, while the ones on right are counterfeit. Can you see the difference? Click on the image to view larger image.




Main Features of Chinese Money: (Only for 100 Yuan bill, 50 Yuan bill, 20 Yuan bill, 10 Yuan bill since there are few fake money for bills and coins smaller than 5 Yuan bill.)




Easy way to detect fake Chinese money (We use 100 and 50 Yuan bills as examples since most fake banknotes are 100 and 50 Yuan bills. The follow tips can be applied to other banknotes also.)

  • The most effective way to detect a fake Chinese money is the watermark. Hold the bill up against light, a watermark of Chairman Mao is shown. The watermark on a real 100 Yuan banknote is distinct while the watermark on a fake one is rather obscure. Look at watermarks in the blue boxes which I draw in the follow pictures and compare.

    Watermark on a real 100 Yuan banknote (In the blue box and click the enlarge)



Watermark on a fake 100 Yuan bill (In the blue box and click the enlarge)



  • The second way to detect a fake Chinese banknote is to scratch the hair of Chairman Mao. You can feel the hair on a real banknote. But on a fake banknote, the hair can not be felt.

    real100_1_small.jpg


  • Another way to detect a fake bill is to see if there is 100, 50, 20 or 10 in the blue circle area when watching in the way shown in the picture. You have to pivot the banknote horizontally and slowly.

    real50_2_small.jpg

All pictures and texts shown above are copyrighted works of www.xian-travel.com and are not allowed to be reproduced anywhere without our permission. But linking to this page is welcome.



 

youtalkcock

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset



Counterfeit Dollars - American Dollar Forgeries

To get an overview on all counterfeit American dollars listed on this site we have created this page with all American dollar counterfeits on it. Because the number of coin forgeries who are listed here will grow soon this page will be useful as a sub-navigation page or a sort of American dollar forgeries site-map.
coinline.jpg
silverspace.gif
Counterfeit 1796 Draped Bust Dollar

A counterfeit from a very rare silver dollar coin. This counterfeit is from Chinese origin and most of these fake dollar coins can be recognized by the slippery details.

Click on the coin picture to read more about this counterfeit coin dated 1796.
coinline.jpg
Counterfeit 1799 Trade Dollar
This counterfeit is very unique as in the 1799 no trade dollars where made. For this reason it's also easy to recognize as a cheap Chinese forgery and you should not be a coin expert to be able to see it. More detailed information about this counterfeit coin can be found by clicking on the counterfeit 1799 trade dollar picture.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1804 Draped Bust Dollar

This a Chinese counterfeit dollar from the famous 1804 draped bust dollar, also named as the Dexter dollar.
The is a story about a ship that has sunk on the way to Europe with many of these silver coins dated 1804 on board to pay the soldiers in Africa. Click on the coin for
more details about the Dexter dollar.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1862 Liberty Seated Dollar

A Chinese forgery from the 1862 liberty seated dollar coin.
Slippery details are again the trademark from this 1862 counterfeit dollar. A real coin from this year would be very expensive as during the American civil war many of these coins where melted. Click on the forgery for more details about the 1862 liberty seated dollar.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1876 Trade Dollar

I do not know actually why there are American dollar forgeries made with this year on it as the 1876 trade dollar isn't that special but it could be to get less noticed. Anyway there are plenty American trade dollar coins from 1876 available on various online markets. Click on the trade dollar image for more details about this Chinese forgery.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1885 Morgan Dollar

Counterfeit morgan dollars can be found in big numbers as I have 3 of these counterfeit dollar coins listed on this site. The all have the same slippery surface and flat details so for an expert easy to recognize as a counterfeit. Some morgan dollars from specific years are very scarce.
Click the dollar image for more coin details.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1885 Morgan O Dollar

This counterfeit dollar has the mintmark O on it so normally it would have been struck in New Orleans, USA. But this counterfeit comes also from China as all the others here.
From the authentic 1885 Morgan there where 9,185,000 silver dollars made. Click the counterfeit dollar image for more detailed information about this 1885 dollar coin.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1885 Trade Dollar

If not a fake coin it would be worth a fortune as lately an authentic 1885 trade dollar was sold at an auction for $3.3 million dollars. For this reason there are coin collectors who are collecting counterfeits from these years because the real coin is to exclusive to buy. Click on the counterfeit 1885 trade dollar image for more detailed information.
coinline.jpg

Counterfeit 1894 Morgan Dollar - Mintmark "O"

This counterfeit dollar was different then the other we have because this fake dollar coin has been made from one piece metal. This metal could be a mix of metals but the coin is not copper with silver plates on the sides.
If you like to know more information about the 1894 morgan dollar with mintmark O then click the US dollar coin.
coinline.jpg

<tbody>
</tbody>







 
N

Nobunaga Oda

Guest

Food Quality & Safety in China

Food quality in China is a big issue. The fairly recent scandal that broke out over poisonous pet food being exported to America is not an isolated case, at least not within the borders of China. If you are living in China, you must be careful about the food.

A Huge Problem in China: Fake Food

While I sympathize with those who were unfortunate enough to see their beloved pets pass away due to poisoned food from China, Americans and much of the world are better off than the approximately 1.3 billion consumers in China.

Living in China, I have learned that anything can be faked here. In terms of food, that includes even the cheapest of things like eggs. Who would make fake eggs? Real ones are not that expensive to ‘make’ in the first place.

Of course the saddest instances of fake food in China has been the fake baby formula scandals. China has already taken steps to resolve this issue, but I still would be very hesitant to buy most baby formulas in China. If you want to know more, check out
this translation from last year.

Also there is this from an
article in this week’s Economist:

As Mr Zheng’s case—which did not involve exports—showed, this is not purely a problem for foreigners who buy Chinese products. It is a safe to say that many more Chinese people than foreigners are harmed by ingesting toxic or substandard foods and drugs each year. In one particularly tragic case in Anhui in 2004, for example, several babies died of malnutrition after consuming fake baby-milk powder. Investigative programmes exposing factories, farms and restaurants engaged in various nefarious practices with food are a stomach-churning staple of Chinese television.

How to Protect Yourself from Bad Food in China

So what can you do to make sure you avoid the worst of the fake food problems the world over, whether you are living overseas (in the States), an expat in China, or a Chinese person?

The solution, really, is simple. Stick with big brands that you can trust. While it is possible that there will be some bad food that slips through their internal and supplier quality control systems, the larger brands have much more incentive to provide what they say they are providing. And since they sell food on such a massive scale, problems will quickly come to light.
Food problems from smaller companies are much more likely to either never be discovered or found out too late.

When it comes to something as important as the substances we depend on for survival, don’t be cheap.

Extra Advice for Expats in China

While it is all good and fine to emphasize buying trusted brands (and in China, make sure to check the packaging – even trusted brands are faked) for your own cooking, it is hard to avoid counterfeit food entirely when living here.

I understand your pain. It scares me to think of the quality of food that goes into corner dives or even some nicer restaurant. But this is just one of the (many) dangers of living here. China is not still called a developing country for nothing.


 

singveld

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
WOW this thread is growing by the minute. There is a lot of fake in PRC, but there is no Fake PRC mei mei.
 

huahero

Alfrescian
Loyal
Chief Executive Officer of Business China, Ms Low Yen Ling said on the Future China Global Forum, “If China sneezes, the whole world will catch a cold.”
 
N

Nobunaga Oda

Guest
why dun you post this thread to the chinese site in singapore. guarantee they will come and start a war.

What? Bring it to them? They will delete it since they cannot accept hard truths. :biggrin:
 
N

Nobunaga Oda

Guest

Chinese retailers hijack the Ikea experience in fast-growing west


r


By Melanie Lee
KUNMING, China | Mon Aug 1, 2011 7:00pm IST

(Reuters) - Nestled in a sleepy southern district of Kunming city in southwest China, is a 10,000 square metre, four-storey building that could make Swedish furniture giant Ikea uneasy.

11 Furniture, as the store is known, copies Ikea's blue and yellow colour scheme, mock-up rooms, miniature pencils, signage and even its rocking chair designs. Its cafeteria-style restaurant, complete with minimalist wooden tables, has a familiar look, although the menu features Chinese-style braised minced pork and eggs instead of Ikea's Swedish meatballs and salmon.

This knock-off Ikea store is emblematic of a new wave of piracy sweeping through China. Increasingly sophisticated counterfeiters no longer just pump out fake luxury handbags, DVDs and sports shoes but replicate the look, feel and service of successful Western retail concepts -- in essence, pirating the entire brand experience.

"This is a new phenomenon," said Adam Xu, retail analyst with Booz&Co. "Typically there are a lot of fake products, now we see more fakes in the service aspect in terms of (faking) the retail formats." Brands are much more than a logo on a handbag or some half-eaten pipfruit on a computer.

Many of the most successful consumer companies have invested millions in promoting and building brands which encapsulate ideals, values and aspirations, creating valuable and loyal customer bases that sometimes border on cults. Last month, an American blogger set off a media storm after she posted pictures of an elaborate fake Apple Store in Kunming, selling genuine if unauthorized iPhones, Macbooks and other widely popular Apple products.

DESIRABLE BRANDS

The presence of the fake stores in Kunming highlights China's seemingly insatiable appetite for western brands in some consumer segments that have not been tapped, particularly in smaller cities far from the affluent eastern seaboard. "What these fake stores indicate is that there is demand for the types of products and concepts that these brands sell," said Hong Kong-based Torsten Stocker, a China retail analyst with Monitor Group.

The problem for companies that have been faked is that even if the fake stores sell genuine products, the brands have no control over how customers experience their brands. Zhang Yunping, 22, a customer service representative at 11 Furniture, is used to the questions about Ikea. "If two people are wearing the same clothes, you are bound to say that one copied the other," Zhang said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Customers have told me we look like Ikea. But for me that's not my problem. I just look after customers' welfare. Things like copyrights, that is for the big bosses to manage," she said. 11 Furniture's owner could not be reached for comment. Ikea said it has teams working at both the country and global level to handle intellectual property protection issues.

"Ikea as one of the biggest home furnishing companies in the world, protecting Ikea's intellectual property rights is crucial," Ikea China said in a statement to Reuters. At 11 Furniture -- its Chinese name "Shi Yi Jia Ju" sounds very much like Ikea's Chinese name "Yi Jia Jia Ju" -- furniture is made to order, not flat-packed as it is at Ikea. Customers also notice other differences.

Ikea has nine stores in China, most of them in the wealthier coastal and southern cities. Xiao Lee, a Kunming resident who was shopping at 11 Furniture for a bedroom wardrobe with her husband, had visited Ikea stores in Beijing and Shanghai. "I thought of shipping their products from the real Ikea store by cargo, but I thought that would be too troublesome so I came here," Lee said.

"At the real Ikea, the layout is much neater and the decorations are laid out properly, you really can't compare them," she said.

LOVING MICKEY, COURTING NIKE

Sometimes telling the difference between fake and real is not so easy. "My favorite character is Mickey Mouse," said Ling Xiao, a six year-old girl walking out of a Disney Store along Kunming's popular pedestrian-only shopping street Zhengyi Road. Ling Xiao and her mother shop at the Disney store about once a month and they have been going there for the past few years to browse for Mickey Mouse handbags and accessories.

"It should be real; it has been here a long time. I prefer coming to this store because it sells a big variety of toys," said Ling Xiao's mother, who declined to be named. Apart from Disney products, the store sells poorly made Angry Bird soft toys of dubious origin. A Walt Disney spokeswoman said there are over 6,000 points of sale for Disney branded goods in China. Disney confirmed the store is legitimate, declining to elaborate further.

Outside a Nike store on the same retail strip, Han Zhimei, a 17 year-old student, looks longingly at a "Help Wanted" sign posted in the store's window. "I feel their stores have a spirit of teamwork and I really like the Nike brand," said Han, who sports a trendy asymmetrical haircut. Han stopped by to apply for a job at Nike.

When asked how she knows the store is a legitimate reseller and that the goods are real, she pauses before answering. "Well, it's a Nike store, so the things in there should be real. I think people will be honest about these things and we should have brand loyalty," Han said. On Zhengyi Road alone, there are four Nike stores, all claiming to be legitimate. A check with Nike's store locator brought up three stores in that street, meaning at least one is fake.

A Nike spokesman said the issue of unlicensed stores was part of the broader challenge of combating counterfeiting in China. "We take the protection of our brand very seriously and have a variety of protocols in place," a Nike spokesman said. The jumble of real and fake stores in lower tier cities across China makes it hard for companies such as Apple, Disney, Nike and more so Ikea, which are closely identified with their outlets, to exert control over their brand image.

Companies such as Starbucks Corp have long battled copycats in China, but the shift to imitations of the likes of Ikea presents a new set of challenges. "The store is a key element of the brand, so faking it, in particular in a way that consumers don't recognize as a fake, is impacting the brand image and reputation," said Stocker. Apple, which had its brand valued at more than $150 billion earlier this year, declined to comment.

WHO PROTECTS YOUR IPR?

For those setting up the fake, unauthorized or pirated goods stores, the attraction is obvious. "We don't need to advertise, everyone has heard of Disney," said Dong, a 23-year-old store supervisor at a Walt Disney retail store a stone's throw from where Ling Xiao and her mother were shopping. That brand recognition has far outstripped the ability of companies to expand fast enough to tap demand exploding in inland China.

Sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas and Li Ning, which have been in China for many years, are the leading fashion choice for those residing in less wealthy cities like Kunming, said a Boston Consulting Group report last month. As the world's second-largest economy races forward, the number of middle-class affluent households is expected to hit 130 million by 2020 from 50 million in 2010, BCG said.

These factors are fueling the race for brands like Nike and Adidas to open stores in less wealthy Chinese cities. Ikea has said it will open an average of one to two stores a year in China. "Many foreign brands are already aware of the importance of lower tier cities but they are trying to figure out a way to go to market in these cities," said Xu of Booz&Co. In some cases, beating them to the punch are the Chinese pirates who, once established, may be hard for foreign companies to get shut.

Chinese law prohibits firms from copying the "look and feel" of other companies' stores, but foreign companies must register their trademarks with China and enforcement is often spotty. The United States and other Western countries have often complained China is woefully behind in its effort to stamp out intellectual property (IP) theft. "Foreign companies often expect the Chinese government to handle their enforcement for them and though they sometimes will, they also sometimes will not," said Dan Harris, a lawyer with Harris & Moure and co-author of China Law Blog.

"The problems often arise from the fact that the damages are often quite low and the Chinese courts do not have a lot of power to make sure their own judgments are enforced," Harris said. Back at 11 Furniture, it is apparent that copying Ikea's ideas may not be enough to win over all consumers. Examining cushion covers at 11 Furniture, Ms. Zhang, a woman in her fifties, sniffs derisively.

"The designs don't look like typical Chinese designs. It's not what everyday Chinese people would use," Zhang said, pointing to a checkered cushion cover. "It looks too fancy."

(Additional reporting by Jane Lee in SHANGHAI and Alistair Barr in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top