Shanghaiist: Tat's all, folks

shanghaiboy

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:11:34 +0800

EJ Pitty or awe? That's easy. Feel awe my friend, nothing but pure awe. I can't say I understand what your second paragraph is all about. Sorry, but after reading it three times I don't get you point. So I will move on. If you were here when the story was written, did you notice the DVD shops were closed. And that several similar shut downs have taken place since? Or did your lack of interest in DVDs mean that you don't viist the stores often enough to notice. If so, I can see why you have trouble believing what I say. But the stores were closed, and the owners were scared -- I know, I talked to a few of them. If some little trip by a couple of culture watchdogs from BJ can scare store owners across the city to shut down for a few weeks, why is it so hard to believe a big time campaign could get them to shut for a few months? Maybe you have read all the propaganda in the press over the years about campaigns against fakes that never amounted to anything and became cynical the government could actually get the job done if it wanted to. Fair enough. You have to ask the question, however: How committed was the government to those campaigns? Did it really want to shut the stores down, or just score some PR points so it could tell Hollywood it was doint its best? I suspect the latter. After all, shutting down the stores would piss off a lot of people all across the country. Who needs that headache? The fact it could shut stores for a few weeks -- and one closure lasted a month -- shows it can get the job done when it wants. And it will want to during the Olympics. Image is everything this year, and fake DVD warehouses like Movie World and Movie Star on Dagu Rd are very bad for the image abroad. The have to be closed. They will be closed. I expect a few arrests in the lead up to the games to make the point very clear -- shut down or else. Once the message is sent, large-scale policing won't be needed. Store owners will censore their actions the way the Chinese press censors itself without the need for a government agent hanging over anyone's shoulder. Will it still be possible to find some fake DVDs? Sure, but only with a bit of effort and knowledge -- something the vast majority of Olympic tourists won't have. The trade will go much further underground. Much further. That isn't backing down from my first post, it is mearly expanding on it. Perhaps the editors at Shanghaiist should spend a few days talking to the many DVD store owners around town about their Olympic plans. Many are surpisingly talkative at times. And I bet they all know that this summer will not be business as usual. PS: What does Lao-er Shanghai mean? I have never heard that term before?

EL JEFE

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:51:42 +0800

I don't know whether to feel pity or awe at this. I don't think there is that big of a difference between these two situations, maybe just an issue of size of yet another elephant in the collective living room. In your description, said journalist is somehow at fault for finding these things out. That's what real journalists do, chief! Really I don't care enough about DVD's to worry about it one way or the other (that's not why I disagree), but I think you are still wrong. I also don't think any sequence of trite descriptions will make my argument stronger. So being a lao-er Shanghai than me or anyone else disagreeing means you are an authority on such matters? I was here when that article was written, big deal. Again, how do we bet money on this? Just think such a blanket statement -- which is being backpedalled from with each post -- is little more than hyperbole. As I said earlier, I cannot tell the future. Hopefully you can teach me how with a response.

China-Matt

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:07:41 +0800

Does this mean I shouldn't bring home the bad fakes as joke gifts? I know a lot of people who'd love to have an Abibas or NKIE shirt. Will this also apply to Hong Kong airport?

shanghaiboy

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:33:29 +0800

El Jefe I would never depend completely on SD to understand how this city works, but if one of its stories matches what I see in my daily life, it is worth posting to back up my arguement. I was in Shanghai at the time this story was written, and I remember all of the DVD stores I check out on a regular basis were closed. Most of them had signs up saying they were undergoing renovations, just like the stores in the story. Some had phone numbers posted so regular customers could still buy DVDs -- but only people the owner recognized. There is a big difference between western journalists putting together stories about following some tout though a maze of allyways to a hidden storehouse of DVDs, and reports about a walk down Dagu Road as a writer decides if he should stop in the massive illegal DVD store operating out in the open on the right hand side of the road, or is he should opt for the massive DVD store operating out in the open on the left hand side of the road. Those stores won't be open. Is that really so hard to see? I know the DVD stores in Shanghai, and the owners know me. I have paid for their holidays in Hong Kong, covered their childrens' tuition fees at university, bought their new mopeds and the gold watches on their wrists. I have spent countless hours sifting throught their inventories, like a religious scholar rummaging through the Vatican archives, I have felt the strains of daily life disappear, and my soul fill with joy as I walk though their doors, like a tai tai entering her favorite spa, or a Muslim taking his first trip to Mecca. I have feasted on the cinematic buffet they offer, and gone back for seconds. Then thirds. I have wept at their movies, danced to their CDs, and roared with laughter at their better TV offerings (no, not Friends). I have mapped out the best stores in the city, and shared these secrets with my friends, the way one shares a private dream with his lover. They are my church, my respite from this crowded concrete jungle, the site of so many of my happiest mainland memories. I can still recall with perfect clarity the day I first came across The Wire at a store on Taikang Road, and describe in infinite detail. And with this knowledge, the deep understanding only a true aficionado of the industry can posses, I understand in my heart as much as my mind that these stores will not be open during the Olympics. The will be shuttered shut, the glorious bounty inside refused to us, like the contents of my father's locked liquor cabinet, or my high-school prom date's chaste teenage body. I understand the urge to deny this could happen. The refusal to believe something so wrong could be allowed. But we must first accept, before we can begin to move and become whole again. Denial won't change the situation. It will only fill you with bitterness and misery. Learn to accept my friend. Learn to accept. And if this understanding of how life in this city works, and how the world press will operate when it arrives in mass for the games means I have an agenda, then so be it (although for the life of me this seems to be the silliest arguement I have ever read). Now I must wander to Taikang Road and fill up on treasure to help me through the long dry months ahead. I suggest you do the same.

EL JEFE

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:45:52 +0800

Shanghaiboy, Several issues here: 1) I question relying on SD for facts or for an accurate description of the way things are, unless its Bernie Leo and his madcap hilarity. 2) "You can bet the country won't allow the games to be marred by non-stop media accounts of how easy it is to get fake DVDs in Beijing and Shanghai (not that the foreign press won't be full of negative stories)" sounds suspiciously like you already have an agenda. 3) The article gives two examples, both of which have the vendors still selling DVD's. a) Closed for renovation but still selling, b) Moved to a new location (still selling). So it doesn't even prove the point. 4) June 6, 2005?? Shanghai is totally different now, more foreigners and more demand for these products, even a new mayor. No amount of digging through the archives is going to convince me, but I'm no fortune-teller so I guess we'll see. Are they going to make everyone bring in their hanging laundry as well? Let's be realistic here.

shopgirl

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:07:05 +0800

will they shut all pink hairsalons??? -_- anyhow, they can't seriously check what you have in your luggage to determine if it's fake or real. I'm still going to stock up on some fake things. What if they think my new MJ shoes are fake when they are in fact real!!!?? WTH?

shanghaiboy

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:41:54 +0800

From Shanghai Daily June 6, 2005: FILM buffs might find it a little more difficult to buy pirated copies of their favorite movies, as a number of DVD stores closed their doors for "renovations" at the start of this month. The sudden rush to redecorate stores is more than a coincidence, however. The owner of a pirated DVD store on Weihai Road posted a notice on the front door of his shop saying it will be closed until the end of June. The note says the store is undergoing renovation. "We have been informed that a campaign against pirated audio-visual products is under way. But customers can still buy DVDs from us by calling the mobile phone number on our notice," the storeowner said. Similar signs have popped up on stores along Hengshan Road and Xinle Road, while several other shops were simply closed with no notices yesterday. The owner of a pirated CD shop on Fuxing Road M. has moved all his discs to a new location and says he will continue doing business, but only with customers he recognizes. "We had to do this because the crackdown is coming," he said. An official surnamed Wang with Guangdong Zhongkai Cultural Development Co, a major DVD manufacturer, confirmed that a campaign has been launched, and the action will last for one week. "A national campaign has been on going since April. The pirated audio-visual product sellers will be investigated for criminal responsibility if the circumstances are serious," he said. "They are scared." But a university student surnamed Zhou said the move will not have much influence on him, "as I can still get movies and music from the Internet."

James Creegan

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:43:48 +0800

No darn copper is going to stop ME from taking a shit in the bushes if I feel like it!

shanghaiboy

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:33:36 +0800

Kenneth I have been here for more than 10 years and I am positive they will shut down all of the stores in the big cities -- especially cities hosting Olympic events. Over the past few years there have been a few occassions where the stores have all shut down for a few weeks, and once as long as a month, due to cultural inspectors from BJ coming to town. Things reopened right after. (I'm sure you can find links to stories about some of these crackdowns in Shanghai Daily, I know they did cover the stories on occassion.) The Olympics are much bigger, and you can bet the country won't allow the games to be marred by non-stop media accounts of how easy it is to get fake DVDs in Beijing and Shanghai (not that the foreign press won't be full of negative stories). As in the past, the DVD store owners will be tipped off by their contacts ahead of time about the campaign, and made to understand just how serious it is. Owners will close down on their own to avoid being the scapegoat who gets 10 years in Qinghai. During the previous, much shorter campaigns some migrants still sold DVDs on the streetside at night, but far fewer than normal. They are tougher to deal with than the big stores like Movie World. But they would be taking a huge risk offering business as usual along Shanxi Rd in the middle of the afternoon. I can't promise, however, that no one will take a sh#t in the bushes during the Olympics. There are only so many cops to go around.

EL JEFE

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:58:51 +0800

Wait, so your prediction is that all fake/counterfeit/shuihuo/however-you-call-it- or-justify-it places will be shut down by the Olympics and during the Olympics? I would have to disagree. Yes, I agree I have no idea how this country works or how anything ever gets done here, but I think you are wrong. You probably read the banner that said "Eliminate modern Chinese culture to impress foreign guests" but I don't believe it's feasible. Just today, I saw some guy taking a crap in a bush next to the street. I think those types of issues are more, ahem, pressing. How much can we bet on this?

Kenneth T

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:53:15 +0800

Shanghaiboy, not sure how long you've been here, but are you seriously sure they have what it takes to shut down ALL the dvd stores in this city, not to mention, country?

shanghaiboy

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:35:40 +0800

Do you folks honestly believe those 'discount DVDs' will actually be on sale during the Olympics? Come on. DVD stores around the country, especially in Beijing and other cities hosting Olympic events (that's us!) will be shut down sometime early this summer before the tourists (and more importantly media) arrive. They will stay shut until well after the games are over. Many other place known for selling fake goods will also be shut down, and face major penalties if they stay open. My suggestion is stock up on movies and TV shows now, because this will be the biggest clamp down on our favorite form of entertainment this country has EVER seen. If you can't see this coming a mile away, you don't have a clue about how this country works!!!

GrisGrisAhAh

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:01:51 +0800

From the site mentioned by Micah: "Tat Noun. 1. Rubbish, junk. Abb. of tatty. Used to refer to the kind of junk sold by crafty Cockneys to unsuspecting tourists in central London." The cockney to tat ratio in Shanghai must be about the lowest in the world.

Micah Sittig

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:27:00 +0800

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tat Probably related to "tatter".