2009 top ten news
Top 10 shanzhai phenomena in 2009
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-11 11:49
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Editor's note: The word “shanzhai” originally means "mountain village," but the term was given a new life in China. "Shanzhai" has taken on a broader meaning, denoting fake, unprofessional or homemade, a slang term for anything that steals ideas or styles from already well-known stuff. There are shanzhai products that clearly infringes on intellectual property rights, but other shanzhai things could be the result of parody or following the same trend. Here, in a chinadaily.com.cn special, we look back at the top 10 shanzhai phenomena in 2009.
[Top 10 celebrity break-ups in 2009] [Top 10 hottest celebrities of 2009]
1. Let's Go Watch Meteor Shower -- Hunan TV's shanzhai version of "Meteor Garden"
The airing of “Let’s Go Watch Meteor Shower” got a lot of attention and caused much debate. Although its executive producer stressed it's a very different show from “Meteor Garden” in terms of plots, characters and social backgrounds, its basic settings and creations are almost the same as the hit TV drama that was popular across Asia earlier this decade. It would be too apparent and absurd to completely copy the former version, but sharing the basics make it worth including as a shanzhai-spirit product.
2. Gong Mi - a Cecilia Cheung lookalike
Gong Mi, a controversial contestant of Happy Girls 2009, became a sensation in various online forums for her sharp resemblance to Hong Kong superstar Cecilia Cheung.
Gong was frequently in the news due to her good looks and a rumor that it took plastic surgery to achieve her stunning resemblance with a known celebrity.
Appearance could be ‘duplicated’ by hi-tech cosmetic surgery, but an individual’s temperament and potential could never be imitated.
3. San Qiang ( A Simple Noodle Story) – Chinese version of Cohen Brothers’ Blood Simple
Zhang Yimou's San Qiang (A Simple Noodle Story) is his latest work after directing Beijing’s Olympiad opening ceremony. The script is an adaptation of the Coen Brothers' 1984 film Blood Simple. Zhang and his producer paid good money for the rights to the re-make. Solid script, star-studded cast, the most renowned Chinese filmmaker of all times, and plenty of cash. Sounds like a recipe for success. But instead, it turned out to be one of the most controversial film of 2009. Coen Brothers fans disliked how Zhang massacred the original script and messed up the adaptation. Imitation requires intelligence. Zhang may be the master of filmmaking, but not a master of shanzhai.
4. Gate Crasher – White House’s uninvited guests
A northern Virginia couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, not on the official guest list, crashed the White House party that President Obama held in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 24. They were never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent where the dinner was held. The uninvited guests were in the same room as the Obamas and Prime Minister Singh. They even received greetings from President Obama. We label them “shanzhai guests” not just because they were uninvited, but because they pretended to be guests.
5. Han Jiangxue – Grassroot scholar providing lectures that imitate CCTV 10’s Lecture Room
A self-described ‘youthful scholar’ uploaded a video clip presenting his lectures on history in a bid to challenge CCTV 10’s Lecture Room, which is a popular TV program with scholars lecturing on various subjects. Han’s version was embraced in cyberspace because it was a crude but sincere effort at mastering the televised teaching model. Han had been turned away twice by Lecture Room for his grassroot effort because the show invites only established scholars.
6. Lao Meng – initiator of shanzhai Spring Festival Evening Gala
In 2008, netizen Lao Meng organized an alternative Spring Festival Gala online to allow more grassroots people to participate in the annual event. But it turned out to be a disaster. In 2009, Lao Meng tried again, this time with more professional performers. Compared to the elite CCTV Spring Festival evening gala, the aborted shanzhai version could provide an amusing alternative.
This year, Beijing TV, partered with Sina, is producing a competing show, but it airs in different time slots.
7. Kaixin (kaixin001.com) – Chinese ‘Facebook’
Kaixin (kaixin001.com), a popular social networking website in China, is modeled on global SNS giant Facebook. Though a 'faithful copy" of Facebook, Kaixin is innovative in product design and user experience, which enhances strong cohesion with its members. The secret of Kaixin's success lays in its smart combination of social networking and gaming, as well as a clean layout and simple design, giving it competitive edges over foreign counterparts like Facebook and MySpace. Inspired by foreign products and developed at home, Kaixin could be considered a local invention because of its distinctive Chinese characteristics.
8. Shanzhai mobile phones – iPhone’s numerous ‘brothers’ in China
Apple Inc. might be shocked by the hot-sale copycat HiPhone, on the market while its genuine product iPhone sold on the mainland at a much higher price. The company that manufactures HiPhone, had the slogan "not iPhone, better than iPhone," and it has its own registered trade mark and a complete operating system. HiPhone may be the better known among the many iPhone imitators. Even without the true-blue blood of iPhone or Nokia N series, shanzhai mobile phones are more than functional and their low prices make them competitive. Imitation is the first stage; if accompanied with more R&D, shanzhai products may lead to more innovation.
9. Muntazer al-Zaidi – Bush shoe-thrower on the receiving end of a similar footwear attack
The Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, imprisoned for throwing his shoes at visiting U.S. President George W. Bush, found himself on the receiving end of a similar footwear attack December 1 in Paris from an Iraqi fellow citizen. Al-Zaidi’s attempt to hit Bush with his shoes has been copied around the world; ironically, now he himself is one of the victims.
10. “Top 10 Everything” lists
In the jovial spirit of the season, we’ll admit that our inspiration for “Top 10 Everything”, which has been going on for three weeks and very popular among our readers, came from other media, especially Time magazine. Time has 50 categories, so we decide to have 50 categories - albeit mostly different categories.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. At the risk of making ourselves very shanzhai, we now proudly “flatter” Time and its lists for giving us such a wonderful idea.
