04.11.07
Pirates of the Middle Kingdom
China and the US have been in the news again, and this time it’s about intellectual property rights. The US is accusing China of not taking intellectual property laws seriously. China has responded by giving
the US the proverbial middle finger. Here’s my take.
From the American Perspective
 |
| A street vendor peddling DVDs from his bike in downtown Fuzhou. |
Piracy of software, movies, and music in China is not just rampant, it is the default. I do not know a single store in Fuzhou where I could buy a legitimate copy of a movie, (or Windows Vista for that matter). While many businesses are succumbing to the pressure to use legitimate software, this is far from the case for private consumers. And as far as movies, buying a legitimate DVD in China is a ritual reserved for collectors or those who want to show off their wealth.
Clearly, more could be done. There is an entire floor of a mall here in Fuzhou which is dedicated to selling pirated software and movies. The discs are purchased wholesale by weight and then sold for slightly under a dollar a piece. Whether it’s Lionel Richie’s Greatest Hits, Adobe Photoshop CS2, or the Borat Movie, everything can be purchased for the price 2 liter bottle of Pepsi. This isn’t exactly an environment that you could say is making it difficult to distribute contraband.
From the Chinese Perspective
It’s not as easy as it sounds. China is a country of 1.3 billion people with a large governmental web spreading out from Beijing to every little nook and cranny across the Chinese empire. Enforcing regulations in big cities can be relatively efficient, but passing these laws down to small locals (where contraband is often produced), is not as simple as it is in the US, or any other country in the world for that matter.
US companies aren’t really losing that much money. This is just conjecture here, but say piracy was suddenly eliminated in China. It is difficult to imagine droves of Chinese rushing out to buy legitimate DVD’s and software. Many workers in China still make less than a dollar a day, and it would be a stretch to expect them to spend an entire days’ wages on a movie. This is even more so the case for software. People making $150 a month, would simply not buy a $300 copy of Photoshop. They would either not use it, or more likely, find other ways to obtain the intellectual property (i.e. downloading, or burning copies of the original).
It will be interesting to see what the next few moves will bring about. This is not the first time the US has pressured China on Intellectual Property Rights. China has responded (at least according to what I have read in Chinese media) by busting several piracy rings, and increasing the penalties for offenders. A friend of mine here in Fuzhou even witnessed a small store get busted for selling pirated discs. Nonetheless, it still seems finding pirated movies and software is no more difficult than it was three years ago, and finding the real stuff is still virtually impossible.
Matt Schiavenza
said,
April 11, 2007 at 5:39 pm
From what sources tell me, pirated DVDs are becoming scarcer in Beijing- but that’s logical: Beijing is logically the first place the government would target given its proximity to the halls of power. Even if the government were to suddenly impose a blanket ban on selling contraband DVDs, it would take years for the ban to be felt in cities like Fuzhou and even longer for it to reach non-coastal cities like Kunming, where I can report that DVD stores are absolutely everywhere.
Nancy
said,
April 12, 2007 at 3:03 pm
you have really know about chinese,including every feilds.I like you blog.
James Chiang
said,
April 13, 2007 at 10:44 am
作为一个普通的中国年青人，我特别感谢那些盗版制品，特别是那些盗版美国货。因为正版实在太贵，而且品种稀少，而盗版却品种繁多，随手可得。这些盗版制品让我接触到了美国的文化，让我认识到了真实的人性，开拓了思想，同时也让我能够自学英语。如果没有它们，可以想像我的思想将会是多么的贫乏，生活将会缺少很多乐趣。没有它们，或许我只能学习马克思列宁主义，毛泽东思想，邓小平理论；只能收看无聊的电视节目；整天工作赚钱却不知道生活的意义；或是愚蠢地为了共产主义事业而奋斗。
我想，在这个盗版事件中，美国只是短期的利益受到了损害，但长期来看，美国还是最后的赢家。因为盗版让很多中国人接受了美国的价值观，培养了大量的美国文化的支持者，从有那么多的美国盗版产品就不难看出美国文化是那么受欢迎，比如较少的盗版日本文化产品，较少的盗版法国文化产品，等等，更没有盗版的马克思列宁主义，毛泽东思想，邓小平理论文化产品。而盗版问题总是要解决的，因为如果没有文化产权的保护，那么中国自己的知识文化产权事业也没法正常发展，所以，当中国人再富裕一些，能够承受正版价格之后，而大家的知识产权保护意识更强烈一些以后，我相信中国肯定是美国知识产权的主要消费地。
有时，我认为这些盗版产品就像是美国的传教士，他们在改变着古老的中国。
James Chiang
said,
April 13, 2007 at 12:16 pm
On this topic,I couldn’t write in English properly. So, I’m very appreciate if Ben or anybody else would translate my Chinese comment.Thanks.
Benjamin Ross
said,
April 14, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Here’s a translation of James’ comment. Corrections welcome.
As a regular young Chinese guy, I am very thankful for pirated stuff, especially pirated American stuff. The legitimate copies are too expensive and scarce, whereas the pirated copies are cheap and easy to find. These pirated copies have allowed me to experience real American culture and customs. They have helped me to both expand my mind, and study English. Without them, my mind would not have been able to develop and be opened as it is with them. I would really be missing out. Without them would be like only studying Marx, Lenin, Mao, and Deng, only watching boring TV programs, making money every day, but not knowing any meaning behind life, and just doing my career for the sake of Communism.
In regards to the issue of piracy, I think the United States’ disadvantages are only in the short term. However, in the long run the US will be the winner. Widespread pirated DVD’s allow Chinese people to really appreciate the US, and has brought about many supporters of American culture. American culture has become so popular because there are so many American pirated products. For example, there are less pirated Japanese products, less pirated French products, and far less pirated Marx, Lenin, Mao, and Deng related products. The piracy problem eventually needs to be solved, but without copyright protection, China cannot even protect their own intellectual property rights. When China is richer, and people can buy the legitimate copies, people’s consciousness about intellectual property rights will be stronger. I believe China definitely is the US’s most important consumer of intellectual property.
Sometimes I think these pirated DVD’s are like missionaries. They change ancient China.
James Chiang
said,
April 16, 2007 at 9:30 am
Thank you, Ben. That’s just what I’m getting at.
James Chiang
said,
April 16, 2007 at 3:31 pm
If Iraqi, Afghanistani, the people in DPRK, the people in Iran could watch US movies; if all Muslem would watch US movies, despite of the movies are priacy, I think there would be less troubles to US now.
Pete
said,
May 11, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I disgaree that this practice could not be stopped by the authorities. They are very adept at stopping any kind of political dissent or non-government sanctioned religious activity. The fact is that there is not (yet) the will to do it.
Unnecessarily antagonizing a sizeable section of the urban middle class along with the businessmen involved in the production and sale of these items (not to mention the local authorities who also get their slice of the action) is not justified by the benefits of adhering to international agreements or retaining a tighter control over Chinese popular culture.
This may change. More forceful IPR protection is a useful card in the governments negotiating armory and also has the bonus advantage of bringing greater control over the average Chinese viewing habits. Certainly I don’t think it’s a case of ineffective government.
As regards to James Chiangs points about opening up US Society to the Chinese public how does he explain the rabid anti-americanism evident here?
Like your blog though – how’s the barbershop experience going? It’s not one of those ones that’s open late and comes with only one kind of light bulb? (red)
Jack
said,
May 19, 2007 at 2:35 am
Pete,
The reason why anti-Americanism exists anywhere in the world I believe has to a lot to do with the arrogance and lack of empathy that our government (and often our expatriots) shows toward others. Somehow, the vast majority of Americans often are incapable of thinking about things from the other guy’s perspective. It may have to do with our economic / military superiority or it’s that isolationist thing, who knows.
I think James’s point is perfectly valid from a Chinese perspective. Imagine yourself to be a Chinese who’s never left the country. You see something that is vastly more attractive than what’s produced by your own country, and after seeing it, you just know that it expresses the human condition in a much more free and honest way. As James said, western culture had set him “free”, as I’m sure it had also done for citizens of other repressed regimes.
Even from a purely “humanitarian” point of view, I believe that piracy of intellectual property around the world may not be such a “bad” thing in the end since it allows access to ideas for those who normally would not be able to afford them. Having shared values and a common underlying “cultural language” can go a long way in encouraging global partnership and avoiding conflicts. (Of course, when people can afford them they should pay for them, but that would come after the nations where they reside become stronger economically and are worthwhile markets for the IP holders to pursue.)
We can think of the intellectual properties that Americans are producing now as a sort of “language” that is helping to enable and unite the world in a sense. However, the actions that the United States takes are viewed separately from this “language”, and are seen as actions taken by any government. It will be indeed be judged negatively if it negatively impact the interests of other nations in this world. That can’t be avoided, and is much more understandable if we take the other countries’ perspective for a few minutes. (e.g. “protection of American interests” viewed from other countries’ perspectives are simply aggression, threats to sovereignty, and competition for resources, etc.)
So, as long as the US is able to project its power relatively unimpeded, it is just natural to expect a certain amount of antipathy from others.
American culture and intellectual properties, on the other hand, are sort of enabler/unifiers and I think can be seen as forces for “good”. Honestly, I think if software / IP piracy never existed, China would have been hugely affected and its growth would have very much been affected (just try and find a legitimate copy of Microsoft Office running on PCs here.)
Heilong
said,
May 24, 2007 at 6:57 am
America would love china to be a potentally huge market along the lines of japan but much bigger to buy their products, companys can see that china is booming and consumerism is on an all time high, so in a way the US is looking for a brand new market, But alot of these things being copied are stuff that would never get released otherwise and maybe FuJian is diffrent but in Dongbei people like Korean and japanese films and TV drama better than american. In my part of the world alot of American films are seen as almost propoganda of a kind, To be taken with a pinch of salt if you will. I have not seen any anti americanism in China. Locals usually think im american anyway and are always nice.