Shanzhai Culture Should Not Be Encouraged

"Shanzhai" first became a name for fakes after Shanzhai cell phones' popularity in the market. Now it has been given a broader meaning of fake, uNPRofessional or homemade, and a slang for anything that steals ideas or styles from already well-known stuff. Some believe that "Shanzhai" has become a culture of its own and it represents non-mainstream ideas and innovations. However, from my point of view, it's not a healthy culture but piracy.

山寨手机在市场上流行后，”山寨“就开始成为假货的代名词。如今，它已经被赋予了更广泛的意义，如假货，不专业或自制的，以及用于盗窃已经出名的东西的创意或风格的俚语。有的人认为”山寨“已经形成了自己的文化，而且它代表着一种非主流想法和创新。然而，在我看来，它不是一种健康的文化而是一种盗版。

"Shanzhai" comes from copying and plagiarizing and often infringes on intellectual property rights. For example, imitated electronics, including cell phones, MP3s and even laptops, are the most common "shanzhai" products. Despite the possible infringement of IP rights, they are much liked by many people as a good way to spend less. However, consumers' interests should not be at the expense of legitimate IP right holders. IP right laws are there to protect the interests of patent, copyright and trademark holders for a limited period of time. They are devised not only to reward innovators, but also to encourage further creativity. If illegal "shanzhai" is not held accountable, society is rewarding copycats while punishing innovators. The result could be disastrous. Everyone will choose to copy others. The market will be flooded with the same kind of poorly-designed and badly-made products that have short lives and lack after-sale services.

”山寨“来源于复制和抄袭，通常侵犯了知识产权。比如，仿冒电子产品，包括手机、MP3甚至是手提电脑，是最普遍的山寨产品。尽管可能侵犯了知识产权，它们还是被人们所喜爱，他们把这看做是一个省钱的好办法。然而，消费者的兴趣不应该以侵犯知识产权为代价。知识产权法是用来保护专利、版权和商标持有者有限时间内的利益的。它们不仅仅是用来奖励创新者，也是用来鼓励进一步创造的。如果非法山寨不追究责任的话，社会就是在奖励模仿者同时惩罚原创者。这一后果会很严重。每个人都会选择抄袭别人。市场将充斥着设计拙劣、制造粗糙、寿命短且缺少售后服务的产品。

From the above discussion, we can see clearly that "shanzhai" culture is not a healthy one. It violates IP rights and undermines market competition order under the disguise of grassroots culture.

从以上讨论我们可以清楚看到山寨文化是一种不健康的文化。在草根文化的伪装下，它违背了知识产权，破坏了市场竞争秩序。