Shanghai began closing down its downtown Xiangyang market yesterday, an open-air bazaar famous for cheap-priced counterfeit brand goods, and a symbol of the Chinese city's failure to crackdown on piracy.
As shoppers, both foreign and local, crowded in looking for last-minute bargains, peddlers were busy handing out name cards for new locations, mostly in 10 other markets that will not be affected by Xiangyang's closure.
"This market is full of fake goods, the atmosphere of piracy, has given Shanghai a very bad image," Xu Zhanglin, an official with the city's Intellectual Property Rights Bureau told the local newspaper Oriental Morning Post.
PHOTO: EPA
But Xu noted that the market brought in nearly 30 million yuan (US$3.7 million) in tax revenues a year.
Early yesterday, helmeted market inspectors gathered at the market and began removing items from stalls, beginning with a mall at the front of the market.
Xiangyang, named after a nearby street, is being closed to make way for a subway station and shopping complex, although city officials have touted the move as a blow against rampant piracy of brand-name items.
Image
"Personally, I think the city government wants to build a better image because of people's perceptions internationally," said Jack Chang, chairman of the Quality Brands Protection Committee, a group set up by foreign companies to work against piracy.
Despite occasional high-profile raids, sales of counterfeit products are widely tolerated in China.
Shanghai's tour guides made Xiangyang, set up six years earlier when shopkeepers were moved from another area earmarked for demolition, a regular stop on their itineraries.
Dozens if not hundreds of touts loiter around the market, shoving catalogues of fake luxury brand handbags and watches into the faces of passers-by in the hope of luring them into nearby back-alley shops set up to evade periodic market crackdowns.
Many of the peddlers said that they would keep those shops open, despite the closure of the market.
In the market's final days even more hawkers than usual crowded into the area, hauling fake DVDs in suitcases and taking over the sidewalks with displays of cheap jewelry and hair ornaments.
Discounts
"Entire shop special discounts!" said signs posted on virtually every market stall. Normally low prices dropped still lower, with fake Ralph Lauren polo shirts selling for an average 30 yuan and Pokemon game cards for 25 yuan.
Most, if not all, of the products being sold were flawed merchandise, some of the shopkeepers said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft