Bend don't Break

This weekend, we took a quick trip to Shanghai to give our visitor, Matt (aka. Matt-ah), a chance to see the big city and get accustomed to the use of the railway and the subway systems. We know he plans to go back on his own and we wanted to give him just a taste of Shanghai in less than 8 hours (so this was but a very small taste, like a grain of rice from the pork fried rice plate). Although this does have to do with Shanghai, it isn’t really about Shanghai…it’s about the Expo happening in Shanghai and the efforts being made for all those that come to see the International Expo (and I'm sure the same could be said for any city/country that hosts a major sporting event like the World Cup or other event like a party convention, etc.).

It should come as no surprise that in China there is a large market for bootleg items like DVDs, purses, watches, bags and multiple other items that people don’t mind obtaining a copy of the “real thing” at a fraction of the price. Now, this could be looked at in several ways but for me, I see it rather simply. By purchasing a copy, I’m sticking it to the man (whoever that man is). You take your chances, some copies are better than others and some just don’t last very long since the quality is suspect. However, paying some of the actual prices for these items seems a bit stupid to me. What makes a purse better than another….the brand name!?!? Really?!?! Maybe my upbringing has wired me different but I refuse to buy things like this in the US. I have never and will never by Nike shoes. They are shoes people!!!! Are they more technologically advanced? Be honest, they are the same but the “swoosh” makes them special right? So, again I justify my actions by believing that some companies are ripping off the consumer with their goods and I’m trying to bring balance back to the marketplace (I am the one that they had foreseen to bring balance to the force). Anyhow, back to the story and off my soapbox (and my potentially lame justification for my actions).

With the start of the International Expo (did you know these things still existed?) in Shanghai, there has been a crackdown on the availability of said bootleg items. At least that is what it appears to be on the surface. In reality, what is happening is that the DVD store owners have all basically partitioned their stores off with walls to separate the legal from the “illegal” (wink-wink). Anyone that has been in the DVD store before knows that the store is now much, much smaller and there is a wall there that wasn’t there before. “Hey, what happened to all of the movies?” This is so they can keep the storefront nice and legal for the hoards of unknowing foreigners that may happen by after their visit to the Expo. People come in and look around and think, “Wow! The stories I heard about bootleg videos must be urban legends.” People that are in the know; go in and ask to see the movies and are taken to the back room to shop (Pssst…wanna buy a watch?). The question is, do the local authorities know about it? I let you ponder this question but if the resident foreigners know……

In the Shanghai “copy” market, we were in the jersey stores looking for authentic jerseys (and let’s not kid ourselves here either, the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. charge ridiculous prices for jerseys….stick it to the man!). Out front were some jerseys but they were obvious fakes, not even close to the real thing. We looked around some more and found the same to be true all over. “Hey, where did the good looking jerseys go?” As we looked into the stores, we noticed ladders in the stores. Now the jerseys are hanging up and down the walls but I didn’t see the need for the ladder, it’s not like they can’t reach the jerseys on the top of the wall with their little hooky-thingy (yes, that’s the technical term). It shows how much I know. I wanted to see if they had a Kevin Garnett jersey (if you don’t know who he is, I won’t explain…I’ll just sigh and move on). They asked his number and they showed us the crappy jersey. “Not that one, a good one, this looks bad…ugly, not good.” They say “Kobe Bryant” I laugh and say “HECK NO!!! I HATE BRYANT!” (Lakers-Celtics; oil-n-water, etc.) So they ask the size, I say 48 (or small or something) and up the ladder she climbs, opening up a panel in the ceiling into the “attic”. She hops up there and a few minutes later comes down with a Garnett jersey. It’s the real deal (or close enough to fool most people, a good copy with quality craftsmanship). So, I watch them go up and down on the ladder as people come in to find jerseys. I try and think about what they are doing and I realize that they are doing the same thing as the DVD shop keepers. The “real copies” are hidden away in case of an inspection by the authorities. The inspector would walk into the shop, look around and see the replica jerseys and give the “OK” stamp to the shop to continue their business. If he finds the other goods, he will confiscate them and fine the shop owner (and then probably sell them to another shop keeper…man, my faith in people is rather limited isn’t it). So again, on the surface, everything looks nice and legal but there’s the ugly truth right there in front of you if you look hard enough.

I won’t say this kind of sums up life in China but it does define how some things work. The term “face” (or saving face) is a large part of the culture (that is very hard to understand for the Western mind…at least this Western mind) and I think it plays into this behavior for the DVD and copy shops. The inspector has a job to do and that is to ensure that there are no illegal copies available or being sold in the shop in his “district”. If there are, he loses face because he isn’t doing his job. If the shop owner sells copies openly, he causes the inspector to lose face (and in order to save face, the inspector must now take action against the shop owner which causes the shop owner to lose face). If the shop owner makes the effort to show a “clean” business, he saves face (and can continue to earn a living) and also ensures that the inspector saves face since his superiors will think he is doing a great job. This type of thinking permeates the culture (and not that it’s a bad thing, it is what it is and to steal a quote I hear many times here “You can’t change China”) and has wide ranging impact that is sometimes tough to get around. We’ve had several examples from work and I’ll avoid the temptation to tell a long story as an example (try to contain your disappointment). Sometimes “face” can work to your advantage (with great power comes great responsibility), however, if you don’t understand it it can be a real problem to try and accept that this is the way things are and that people really see things like that. I don’t claim to fully understand it, I just try to acknowledge that this is the way things are and that I have to be aware that “face” is very important.

Probably the most interesting thing here is that I tied in a trip to Shanghai to a lesson in “face”, perhaps a bit of a stretch but I think it flowed. I have to admit though that by posting this, I am potentially creating a “face” problem for someone (how did this get posted on a website that has been blocked?). A foreigner is saying not very nice things about China…to the contrary; I am stating what I believe to be interesting tidbits about living in China. You think that the US is different? I’m not so sure; perhaps “face” isn’t the correct term, how about “respect” (you dissing me?) or perhaps even better “perception”. Think about it, many times people do things not for themselves but to make themselves look better in the eyes of others and isn’t that the very essence of “face”? I’ll leave you to yourself to ponder these deep thoughts.