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Meet China's "Street Of Fakes"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/09/2014 23:00 -0400

From "The Appla Store" to "Sffcccks Coffee", the southern Chinese city of Wuxi has seen a "street of fakes" sprout up that flaunts modified name of famous international stores. As the South China Morning Post reports, on this commercial street, located near the Wuxi East Railway Station, the "shanzai" (translated - knock-offs) are in fact all empty - designed to entice buyers of commercial and residential property in yet another ghost city to lever-up and speculate.

Via The South China Morning Post,

It looks like Starbucks from a distance, but upon closer inspection, something is very off here. Photo: Chinanews.com

A “street of fakes” has sprouted up in the southern Chinese city of Wuxi, featuring signs that flaunt modified names of famous international stores like Starbucks and Zara.

On this commercial street, located near the Wuxi East Railway Station, clothing stores Zara and H&M have morphed into “Zare” and “H&N,” American electronics company Apple is "Appla," Starbucks Coffee has become the bizarre sounding “Sffcccks Coffee" and even the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has made an appearance – only with one of the characters of its Chinese name removed and replaced with another, rendering the name nonsensical.

H&N, Zara and even the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have all undergone tiny tweaks to their names.

All of the store signs displaying these famous names are written in fonts that make them appear similar to the real deal from a distance, and China’s netizens have quickly taken to calling the area a “street of fakes” or a “shanzai street.” Shanzai is the Putonghua word for knock-off.

“How could the people that put these signs up possibly be proud of such a thing?” one commentator wrote on Chinese news portal Wenxuecity.com. “They are completely ignorant of intellectual property rights.”

Local reports claim that the stores displaying the shanzai signs are actually all empty, and the entire street is property available for purchase by shop owners or landlords. According to reports from internet portal Sohu.com, real estate representatives for the street told reporters that the signs were “pre-made advertising images designed to create a shopping atmosphere” and appeal to prospective property buyers.

All of the shops on this "street of fakes" are empty, local reports claim.

“The real estate operators in charge are engaging in misleading behaviour and should stop this infringement,” said Zhao Jia, a local lawyer interviewed by Sohu.com.

Despite this warning, copyright infringement is common in the mainland, and local stores and products have frequently copied the logos or fonts of international brands for recognition purposes. Photos of Chinese stores such as “KLG” (a chicken restaurant similar to international fast-food chain KFC) and “Sunbucks Coffee” (a coffee shop resembling Starbucks) have been virally shared on the internet for years.

Of course, we are sure there is a real economy somewhere under all of this - somewhere...

- advertisements -

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:07 | 4318103 frankTHE COIN

Zirconia Ave.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:25 | 4318146 AlaricBalth

Just go to 33 Liberty St. In New York. There you will find a building with a fake name more harmful than any in China. The signage says Federal Reserve Bank of NY. The truth is, there is nothing "Federal" about it.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:32 | 4318316 Buckaroo Banzai

And, it's not a bank, and there are no reserves.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 03:38 | 4318593 Luckhasit

HaHa! Spend it soon as you get it for assets. Funny how those families are still classified.

And I mean the whole list..

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 10:56 | 4319308 Boris Alatovkrap

Chinese advertising copy...

wai pei moa fo blanneim stafu?!

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 14:59 | 4320457 teslaberry

and it's not even in new york. oh wait.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:30 | 4318505 BringOnTheAsteroid

I'm afraid once this becomes public knowledge we'll all have to be killed.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:30 | 4318156 Oh regional Indian

Looks like JaUSApan and ChUSAina are both equally fucked by uncle sam's love....

ori

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:37 | 4318169 SilverRhino

The perfect place to go buy gold and silver :)

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:33 | 4318508 SilverIsKing

But you don't get gold and silver. You get gofd and sclver.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 09:34 | 4318950 Papasmurf

You get gofd and sclver.

That would svck!

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 09:35 | 4318958 unrulian

ohh...sorry guys i thought this was ZumoLedge.com ...my bad...FYI i think thats where FS went

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 05:34 | 4318675 dark pools of soros

Tungsten Lane

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 09:03 | 4318863 monkeyboy

Brawndo, Butt Fuckers....

Can you get hand jobs @ Sffcccks Coffee?

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:09 | 4318109 suteibu

It is difficult to generate much more than a chuckle over this. Life has become satire.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:35 | 4318166 TheFourthStooge-ing

Chinese citizenism fakery knows no bounds. The roadsides of this street are adorned with fake poo.

But hey, at least it was made in USA. They ordered it from Johnson Smith.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:46 | 4318199 suteibu

Jack's Joke Shop

"If it ain't funny, it ain't worth Jack!"

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:11 | 4318114 chump666

What a ridicules country.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:19 | 4318133 willwork4food

That ridiculous country will own your cute little ass in the very near future.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:41 | 4318177 john39

I would rather be owned by the Chinese than the soulless thieving criminals that own the FED

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 11:22 | 4319395 Gankfest

You're stupid... Thanx for the contribution... /rolleyes

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 03:28 | 4318580 Offthebeach

Chicom thieves all paid off with paper notes from Swampland DC and Wall Street paper.

Not my probruum Joe.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 11:21 | 4319389 Gankfest

And yours...

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:11 | 4318115 Dr. Engali

When I read street of fakes I thought it was going to be a story about Wall street.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:12 | 4318120 suteibu

Pennsylvania Ave.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 01:59 | 4318470 upWising

www.deadmalls.com

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:12 | 4318118 Leonardo Fibonacci2

SF FUCKS is the new Starbucks in china?............i need to get my eyes checked

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:16 | 4318125 Zero Point

I was going with Softcocks coffee, but that's cool.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:07 | 4318475 Dixie Rect

I don't think we have time for a handjob, Joe

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 14:41 | 4320370 Rory_Breaker

Forget the hand job, I wanna fuck those titties you got there

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:16 | 4318127 Osmium

Boulevard of broken dreams

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:27 | 4318136 willwork4food

No, that painting's reserved for main street America in 2017.

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/237/4/5/boulevard_of_broken_dreams_by_blph-d6jp4x9.jpg

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:17 | 4318130 mumbo_jumbo

"They are completely ignorant of intellectual property rights"

this is and has been no secret about the whole of China.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:44 | 4318188 Mine Is Bigger

Only when it suits them. Chinese companies are registering patents left and right around the globe.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 09:38 | 4318979 Papasmurf

How does that differ from the Fed being ignorant of financial rights?

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:24 | 4318145 Constitutional ...

The age old money power decided to shift from West to East, and everything else is a cover story or an excuse for their age old plunder.

It is their intention to move on to gut the Far East, now that they have gutted the West, led by the Rothschilds and their Internationale, traitors to every land they occupy.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:29 | 4318153 Xibalba

ORDO AB CHAO

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:44 | 4318185 john39

They even built a new World Trade Center in china... Look familiar?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_World_Trade_Center_Tower_III

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:38 | 4318335 Buckaroo Banzai

Wow, that's weird.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:37 | 4318512 SilverIsKing

If they build it with the tail section of an airplane sticking out the side of the building, then it would have been really weird.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 07:20 | 4318740 BorisTheBlade

Architectural firm is American and same as WTC 7 and new Freedom Tower - Skidmore Owings & Merrill.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:46 | 4318353 frankTHE COIN

That was fucking crazy.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:29 | 4318503 Freddie

They better hope that Larry Silverstein does not have insurance on it or any vans show up at 3 am for a week with thermite.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 07:40 | 4318747 kurt

Or that Dick Cheney's company has the asbestos abatement contract...

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 09:39 | 4318986 Papasmurf

The Chineese are clever that way. It's a decoy.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 18:05 | 4321042 Pseudonymous

It's highly disturbing thinking and wondering how far would they go copying from the more "advanced" Americans.

It is probably only a matter of time until they learn (or potentially misunderstand) what the actual relationship between the American government and terrorism is and easy credit is extended for activities imitating the Americans.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 01:15 | 4318404 Constitutional ...

Xibalba,

OPI

oremus pro invicem

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 01:16 | 4318408 Constitutional ...

Xibalba,

OPI

oremus pro invicem

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:30 | 4318154 QQQBall

is the g-20 coming to town?

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:31 | 4318157 vxpatel

Go back to sleep....the invisible hand will sort all this out...

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:42 | 4318179 Ineverslice

BF Chong's

...whateva, bfd.

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 23:50 | 4318212 Fix It Again Timmy

Cheap money is Miracle-Gro for absurdity...

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:20 | 4318275 ebworthen

"So What the FucK Coffee!" (SWTFC).

Soon to be on the NYSE ticker.

WTF? C'mon, BTFATH M'fuckers!!!

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:44 | 4318346 MsCreant

I wonder how many of those NYSE tickers are just fake letters they trade with each other? Don't even need a fake building??

Not naked shorts, just naked.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:38 | 4318325 Dr. Destructo

“How could the people that put these signs up possibly be proud of such a thing?”

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 02:39 | 4318516 SilverIsKing

Because the Chinese spell pride like this:

Prick

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:41 | 4318336 cynicalskeptic

Potemkin Villages. Nothing new.

During the 1970's they painted fake curtains and flower pots in the boarded up windows of empty abandoned apartment buildings in the Bronx. Smoke and mirrors, appearance over substance.

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:39 | 4318337 MsCreant

Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery?

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:41 | 4318340 MsCreant

In my best Ethel Mermon:

Everything's coming up PONZI for me and for you!

Fri, 01/10/2014 - 00:45 | 4318350 Agent P