’m Martin, a new Marketing intern at the InternChina Qingdao office. It’s my second time in China – I love this country ! I am also quite interested in fashion and the concept of counterfeits.
Before I came to China, I knew that China was infamous for its counterfeit items. In many countries and even in France, where I come from, the local authorities are working hard to reduce the amount of available counterfeit items. But the first time I came to China in 2016 in Nanjing, I was impressed how easy is it to find fake things and how it is displayed shamelessly by market seller on streets or in mall, or by people. Sometimes there can be some great high-quality fakes, sometimes there can be some really terrible fakes. Look at these Abibas and New-Barlun branded shoes ! Or this Abiboss sweatshirt (a great mix between Hugo Boss and Abibas brand) and this CEANHL bag, interesting Anagram.
Where can I find fake branded things?
You can find these fakes everywhere ! You can find them on the internet on sites like Taobao, in souvenir shops, and also in big markets. In these places, you need to bargain. While you can find these markets all over China, I will talk about the ones I know in Shanghai, where you can meet so many foreigners eager to find cheap fakes. In Shanghai, so many French visitors come to the market that some sellers have even learnt how to say the prices in French ! The starting price can be as much as five times higher than the true value of the item.
What products can be counterfeit?
Well-known and luxury brands are often imitated – you can find a lot of fake Louis Vuitton and Chanel products. You can also find fake tech, including cheap Beats by Dre and even fake smartphones ! There have been copies of the Apple iPhone called Goophone on the market. Even worse, in 2011, a string of fake Apple stores were found across China. In the same vein, in Qingdao, i’ve seen a lots of fake branded shops, in a mall that seemed normal, like a lot of copy of Polo brand. Or a Enzo shop. (Just one K and its ok)
Shan Zhai (山寨)
This trend of counterfeit products is not just a few sellers in markets. It can be considered a serious business model here in Chins. Due to a mix of history, culture and a pragmatic economy, business based on fake and pirated products has its own name in Chinese : shanzhai.  The Shan Zhai model works thanks to more than 60% of Chinese people living in rural areas that are imitating the consumption trend in urban areas. This model has allowed some companies to break into a new market. For example, we can talk about Tencent’s QQ instant messaging service which is a carbon copy of the Israeli messaging service ICQ. Now, QQ is one of the most popular instant messaging services in China, and floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2004. Indeed, it is for some companies a way to start with nothing by pushing down the cost of R&D and then implement new features to existing products to better fit the local needs and expectations. Some people defend the Shan Zhai model, saying it brings economic and social benefits by providing customer more choice at lower price. Foreign companies complain about the lack of strict rules concerning property rights in China, and trying to push Chinese governments to strengthen their control over counterfeit.
If you are interested to visit fake markets and experience China, don’t hesitate:Â https://internchina.com/apply/
I’m Martin, a new Marketing intern at the InternChina Qingdao office. It’s my second time in China – I love this country ! I am also quite interested in fashion and the concept of counterfeits.
Before I came to China, I knew that China was infamous for its counterfeit items. In many countries and even in France, where I come from, the local authorities are working hard to reduce the amount of available counterfeit items. But the first time I came to China in 2016 in Nanjing, I was impressed how easy is it to find fake things and how it is displayed shamelessly by market seller on streets or in mall, or by people. Sometimes there can be some great high-quality fakes, sometimes there can be some really terrible fakes. Look at these Abibas and New-Barlun branded shoes ! Or this Abiboss sweatshirt (a great mix between Hugo Boss and Abibas brand) and this CEANHL bag, interesting Anagram.
Where can I find fake branded things?
Where can I find fake branded things?You can find these fakes everywhere ! You can find them on the internet on sites like Taobao, in souvenir shops, and also in big markets. In these places, you need to bargain. While you can find these markets all over China, I will talk about the ones I know in Shanghai, where you can meet so many foreigners eager to find cheap fakes. In Shanghai, so many French visitors come to the market that some sellers have even learnt how to say the prices in French ! The starting price can be as much as five times higher than the true value of the item.
What products can be counterfeit?
What products can be counterfeit?Well-known and luxury brands are often imitated – you can find a lot of fake Louis Vuitton and Chanel products. You can also find fake tech, including cheap Beats by Dre and even fake smartphones ! There have been copies of the Apple iPhone called Goophone on the market. Even worse, in 2011, a string of fake Apple stores were found across China. In the same vein, in Qingdao, i’ve seen a lots of fake branded shops, in a mall that seemed normal, like a lot of copy of Polo brand. Or a Enzo shop. (Just one K and its ok)
Shan Zhai (山寨)
This trend of counterfeit products is not just a few sellers in markets. It can be considered a serious business model here in Chins. Due to a mix of history, culture and a pragmatic economy, business based on fake and pirated products has its own name in Chinese : shanzhai.  The Shan Zhai model works thanks to more than 60% of Chinese people living in rural areas that are imitating the consumption trend in urban areas. This model has allowed some companies to break into a new market. For example, we can talk about Tencent’s QQ instant messaging service which is a carbon copy of the Israeli messaging service ICQ. Now, QQ is one of the most popular instant messaging services in China, and floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2004. Indeed, it is for some companies a way to start with nothing by pushing down the cost of R&D and then implement new features to existing products to better fit the local needs and expectations. Some people defend the Shan Zhai model, saying it brings economic and social benefits by providing customer more choice at lower price. Foreign companies complain about the lack of strict rules concerning property rights in China, and trying to push Chinese governments to strengthen their control over counterfeit.
If you are interested to visit fake markets and experience China, don’t hesitate:Â https://internchina.com/apply/
When you think about Fashion in China, the first impression is always weird. Most people think that you can buy just Chinese clothes, for example the traditional chinese dresses “Qipao/旗袍”, which you can always see in television or on pictures! But that’s wrong!!
Before I came to China I put all my clothes which I had into my suitcase, actually I brought almost my whole wardrobe with me! The reason for that was that I was totally afraid that I cannot buy any clothes here and if they even have my size because the most Chinese people are shorter and smaller.
When I arrived at the airport I already started observing the Chinese people, especially the girls!! The girls were wearing high heels skinny jeans and very nice coats. I was positively surprised, because I didn’t expect this kind of fashion here in China. But of course on the other hand there are also some people, wearing jogging clothes with high heels for example or are going out just with pajamas! When you see fashion styles like this at the beginning you’re very surprised, because you don’t know fashion styles like this from Germany. But when you think about it and see the differences between Germany and China it’s amazing! Here you can wear everything you want and no one is looking at you like “oh my god what are you wearing?!” Here you are free to create your own style and do not have to follow the typical mainstream like in Germany!!
Chinese people love glitter and are very colorful!! When you see the Chinese people crossing the street with their awesome outfits in different colors and gemmy accessorizes you will start loving it!! I was directly impressed of that!!
As I arrived here I checked all shopping malls! All shopping malls are huge and you have a very big choice! You have all necessary shops which you already know from Germany, like H&M, Zara, Mango, VeroModa or Only. Therefore you don’t have to worry about any clothes; you can get everything here, like in Germany. The big shopping malls have also Armani, Prada, Louis Vuitton and more. The prices are quite similar to Germany.
The next important point are the sizes! Before coming to China, there are also a lot of worries about the sizes, which is also correct. The clothing sizes at H&M, Zara, Mango and other Western stores are the same, as we know it from our own country. But when you enter a Chinese store, you will see the difference. Actually, as a foreign person you have to pick one size bigger as you usually have. Of course not everyone! When you have the same body sizes like Chinese people you don’t have any problems. But basically you have to take mostly one or two sizes bigger as usual.
Another important point, which should be taken into consideration, is the shoe size! Luckily I don’t have such a big shoe size; therefore I can find shoes here very easily. It’s not the same size which I always wear; I have to take one size bigger as usual, then it fits perfectly! But girls with shoe size 40 will have some difficulties, because they don’t have bigger sizes than 40. Therefore it is very important to take your comfortable shoes always with you, in case you cannot find any shoes in your size here in China! 
The very good thing in China is that you can go to the tailor and let you sew some clothes very easily and cheap! When you have very long legs and have problems in finding suitable jeans for you, you can always go to a tailor and let you sew jeans in your size. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about this! Moreover, when you are coming to China for an internship and missed the dress code for your company, you can easily sew some suitable clothes for your internship for less money!
All in all you don’t have to worry about the fashion in china! You can get everything here, which you already know from Germany!
Come here and let yourself be impressed by the Chinese fashion!!! Apply now via email or on our website!!