I’m thrilled to feature guest blogger Stuart Beaton‘s piece about shanzhai, or fake goods, in China. Stuart hails from Australia, but has made Tianjin, China his home. He teaches English at a medical university there and has written a hilarious column for China Daily about food, his expat life, and his lovely wife, Ellen. So as you can imagine, it’s such an honor that he’s agreed to guest blog today. Here’s Stu:
In China, it’s hard to avoid fake things – from DVDs to watches, perfume to clothes, they’re available almost everywhere you look.
I must admit that without fake DVDs, I’d probably have gone stark raving mad by now. The alternative – endless hours of CCTV 9 – isn’t one that I’m that keen on, so they at least give me a chance to see what’s happening in cinemas elsewhere.
This makes me feel sorry for the film studios, actors and artists involved, who miss out on the rewards of their labour. Fake products can even reduce the perception of the real item, as the market is flooded with poor quality copies.
But shanzhai – a term that originally meant “mountain village, and now covers fakes – doesn’t just stop at the street level.
A few years ago I worked at what was, for want of a better term, an English “factory”. It had a witty name, and it basically worked like a large separating funnel – students were poured in at one end, their money was extracted in the middle, and they came out the bottom with a smattering of extra English.
One day I went into work to find the school’s leader, accountant and secretary huddled over the antiquated photocopying machine. It had jammed, and a piece of paper that looked suspiciously like a copy of my Degree was being extricated from it.
This intrigued me, so I stepped forward, and volunteered to help – mostly so I could find out why my qualifications were being copied. I removed the jam, and turned and asked the leader what was going on.
“A new teacher is coming to the school, and we need to help them get a visa”, was the answer.
So how did my Degree fit into this picture?
It transpired that the new candidate didn’t have a degree, and thus wouldn’t be able to get a “Z” visa to work legally in China. My Degree was going to be copied, altered, and submitted to the Immigration Bureau in order for them to get one.
That’s where I nearly fainted from shock.
I had to work hard for that piece of paper, and watching someone attempt to use it to make a shanzhai copy was more than I could bear. I pointed out to the leader that it was hardly a good idea to submit a degree from a University in another part of Australia than the new teacher was coming from.
The leader relented, and my Degree wasn’t used after all. Another Australian University’s website was raided for their crest, and a Bachelor Of Science Degree was duly printed out. A smudge of ink from the company’s stamp provided the Uni’s seal, and another pass through the copier was made.
I’m ashamed to say that this shanzhai effort succeeded, and the teacher was given a visa. They went on to expound the pointlessness of going to University, and even went as far as telling students that “University was a waste of time, you can’t possibly learn anything there”. Which was, in a twisted way, very true for that teacher.
Sources tell me that this faking of documents is common place, and that it’s become something of a game between schools and officials. For the teachers in question, it’s a heavy price to pay if caught. They face fines and even deportation if found to be working illegally.
All I know is that when it comes to fakes and forgeries, I’m going to definitely avoid them in the future.
Or until the next blockbuster movie comes out at the local DVD store.
Besides finding Ali here, there are another two coincidences: first, I had been working at China Daily Shanghai Office for about 7 years; second, my wife is working in Tianjin which is just like my second home. I do like Tianjin food though…
As for the Shanzhai, I like buying Shanzhai (pirated) English-language books here in Shanghai. To get rid of feeling guilty, I would also buy the non-shanzhai copies of the same books—putting the Shanzhan copies in my bathroom and the non-shanzhai ones on the shelf.
Oh yeah, Ali hasn’t contacted me yet. Maybe she has forgotten all about me…:-)
Wow, what a small world. I’ve never known so many people with links to Tianjin. Knew a few back in Hong Kong who’d come there to study from Tianjin. Ali told me she’d get in touch with you. I know she has crazy working hours and is quite busy these days as Christmas and the New Year approach.
Shanzhai for an academic degree is too much! The potential for damage, real damage, is there. Shanzhai DVDs – that may be a different thing, especially where the real McCoy costs a bomb! If the artists and stars and producers want to earn I think they have to do their part too by agitating for DVDs to be priced reasonably and within the reach of most working people. For example, an original copy DVD here in Malaysia can cost more than RM100! Why pay this much for a movie when you can get an equally high quality – and I emphasize, a real good quality copy – shanzhai DVD that costs a fraction of the original!
Thanks so much for your comment! I love how this topic has generated so many responses. I see shanzhai as a problem that will continue unless China really cracks down. And I don’t see that happening in the near future.
Wow, T, you make South Korea sound like the place to be for English Teachers!
I taught in Japan ten years ago, and you had to submit your original degree to the Government to validation, before you could get a full time work permit. Without a degree, you could only work a limited number of hours a week.
In China, it’s not the school officials who require the degree, but the Immigration Bureau – but you’re right, the basic prerequisites to teach here in China are being healthy enough to pass an invasive medical check, and not being Asian in appearance.
At least, that’s enough for the privately run schools. Universities and the like actually want people who can do more than look good – or they’d never have hired me in the first place.
Haha… I’m actually surprised that the school officials actually bother with the trouble of requiring a degree — real or otherwise. Normally, all that is required for one to qualify as an “English teacher” in China is for him/her to be white.
And the problem with “shanzhai teachers” is common in other countries in East Asia as well. Many of the English teachers plainly do not have an adequate grasp of the language that they’re being paid to teach, but there they are teaching, nevertheless. However, I hear that Japan has become quite good in screening out unqualified applicants for teaching positions, and South Korea is toughening up its screening process in response to public outrage at the deviant, oversexed teachers that have been reported by the media.
Lisa – the credentialing stuff’s gotten out of hand. There’s been a string of Chinese academics recently who’ve been found to have forged their Uni credentials to get high ranking posts. Not a lot of action was actually taken about it though.
Amy – my students have no qualms about passing off the work of others as their own, and wonder why I go ballistic when I find out (and it’s not hard to find out, either, it’s so blatantly copied). It’s endemic to Chinese society – something Brian Castro pointed out to me when I spoke to him earlier this year, and he highlighted it in his book, “The Bath Fugues”.
Wowzer. I thought they had gotten stricter about the credentialing stuff — not so much! Great post!
Great post!
Stu, I lived in Tianjin in 2001 through 2009. My husband and I taught at Tianjin International School. We owned our share of pirated DVDs, which we gave away before we moved back to the United States. 🙂 I was always amazed by the different standards in China when it came to forgeries and cheating and many other things.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I can’t say I’m surprised by this, though I’m glad you caught them before they could use your diploma!