CrunchGear In China: Shanzhai Market

The cellphone market in Shenzhen is like a flea market where everyone is selling the same thing. If it looks like an iPhone, it’s here. There are hundreds of models, hundreds of odd names, and hundreds of people arrayed along the inside of a huge room. There are four or five floors of this mess. This is the Shanzhai market.

Shanzhai is a strange amalgam of counterfeiting, national pride, and Robin Hoodism. The word itself means “mountain fortress” and suggests a romantic image of brigands working together to outwit the rich and powerful. It’s been called a reaction to the cellphone monopoly but in reality it’s a sort of personal test, more akin to the piracy “scene” than anything else. Shanzhai products are, in their early stages, more like graffiti tags than anything else. Every fake iPhone is someone’s way of saying “I’m here, I did this, and I beat the big guys.”

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