The Rise of Shanzhai Culture
nes, DVDs, MP3 players, have made”shanzhai” the hottest word of the year. Now we wear shanzhai watches, talk through shanzhai cell phones, play shanzhai video games, use shanzhai computers, even watch shanzhai TV shows. once a term used before some electronic products to suggest a copycat version of inferior quality, shanzhai now suggests to many chinese creativity and trendiness. With the media all over the rise of shanzhai culture, public opinions are clearly divided.
仿冒名牌產品繁多，如手機，DVD，MP3播放器，這些使得“山寨”成了一年中最熱的詞。現在我們帶山寨手表，通過山寨手機交談，玩山寨視頻游戲，使用山寨電腦，甚至觀看山寨電視節目。在使用一些電子產品時，山寨版意味著的質量低劣，山寨現在中國卻是有創意和時尚的。隨著山寨文化媒體的遍地興起，公眾的觀點明確區分開來。
Advocates invariably associate it with innovation, stylishness, the DIY spirit, open-mindedness and practicality, as shanzhai products often mix imitation with innovation – a similar skin but a different heart. The final products are usually more functional and much cheaper than the original. Besides, they respond to the market more swiftly and they are more considerate in design. Thanks to them, more people at the grassroots level can enjoy the benefit of modern technology.
支持者總是把創新，時尚，DIY精神，開放性和實用性聯系在一起，山寨產品往往混合模仿與創新——類似的外表但不同的核心。最終產品通常比原來的擁有更多的功能和更便宜。此外，他們對市場的反應更迅速，設計更周到。多虧了他們，更多在基層的人可以享受到現代科技帶來的好處。
However, other people, including myself, hold more reserved attitudes towards the shanzhai fever, for all the popularity it has won, a copycat is a copycat. The mockery of the prestige products not only steals their profits but also upsets market competition. Moreover, shanzhai products thrive on the current legal loopholes. Under the disguise of anti-dominance slogans, they make illegal profits by violating intellectual property rights and evading taxes. And to top it off, the so-called innovation is only senseless talk as true innovation always faces huge costs and potential failures, while plagiarism simply builds success on other people’s risks.
然而，其他人，包括我自己，對山寨熱持有更多的保留態度，因為它所獲得的人氣來說，山寨的就是山寨。對于產品聲譽的嘲諷是山寨不僅竊取他們的利益，而且也擾亂了市場競爭。此外，山寨產品的蓬勃發展顯示了現行法律的漏洞。抗優勢口號的偽裝下，他們通過侵犯知識產權和逃稅來達到非法獲利。而最糟糕的是，所謂的創新只是毫無意義的大話，因為真正的創新總是面臨巨大的成本和潛在的故障，而抄襲只是建立在其他人成功的風險上。