Top 10 Strangest China-Made Knockoffs
#10: WuMart
WuMart certainly sounds like a take on America’s Wal-Mart, but the similarities aren’t as glaring up close. The company was founded in 1994 and became one of the largest supermarket chains in China. The founder has admitted taking heed from US and European retailers in his mission to expand WuMart, but also points out that it’s mostly only English speakers who note the similarities. This is because the English translation bears a resemblance, but in the Chinese characters, they are not very alike. Still, the company has done so successfully that Wal-Mart could buy it at one point if they wanted to capitalize on the Chinese market.
#9: “Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon”
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The Harry Potter franchise has fans all across the globe, with China being no exception. While there are plenty of non-official translations released onto the Chinese market, the strangest of the non-official books is “Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon”. The cover and the inside is like nothing you would’ve ever heard of from the story of the boy who lived. The reason for that is that the story isn’t really Harry Potter, but more J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. The author of this book took the text from the Middle Earth story and replaced the characters' names, items and places from the Harry Potter universe. It’s… a wee bit confusing.
#8: Jumped-Up Kicks
So you want to buy some fresh kicks but don’t have the cash to splash out on official brands like Adidas? Why not try one of its several Chinese versions? Granted, the names might not carry the same clout, and they… might not be the same quality. Adidas stated in 2018 that 10% of the “Adidas” products in Asia could be counterfeit. This includes products in stores and online, not just at the street market stalls. Counterfeit goods are a huge problem for a lot of global retailers, especially in China, and Adidas isn’t the only sports shoes company that has to deal with imitations.
#7: Not Quite the Same Cars
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Luxury and wealth are big drivers of consumer desire. And what better way to capitalize on that than with the “Beijing Auto Show.” The problem is, a lot of the huge luxury car brands originate from other countries, so domestic Chinese manufacturers tried to produce their own versions. Examples of Chinese car manufacturers taking inspiration from popular brands include the Huanhai Landscape VA3 and the Lifan 320, a supermini that bears a resemblance to the British Mini Cooper. There are plenty of copycats like this and these cars have even been sold overseas!
#6: The HiPhone & APhone A6
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Imagine years ago walking into an “Apple” store, and turning on what looks to be the latest iPhone, only for the Android logo to come up? Well, that’s what might have happened with the release of the HiPhone and APhone A6. The casing on these phones was very similar to the original designs, but Apple fans would be quick to spot the few key things missing from the devices. The software is perhaps the biggest issue, with most being run on Android software. Copycats of phones and Apple products are nothing new, with these two being only one of the many examples of the sheer amount of imitation hardware out there.
#5: PolyStation
You’ve probably seen plenty of copycat video games in your lifetime, but the Polystation has a long history. With the massive success of the PlayStation from Japan, of course there were going to be some companies trying to capitalize. But while the outside might look familiar, it’s what’s under the hood that will disappoint. The Polystation is what is known as a “Famiclone”, a console that emulates pirated games, originally from the 8-Bit era. Since the file sizes were small, the console and cartridges could package several games into one! And this approach has proved so successful, manufacturers have continued to create versions of Sony consoles.
#4: WiWi
While there are indeed countless clones of a wide variety of video game consoles, none are as abundant as those for the Nintendo Wii. Numerous companies produced their own version of the console, including the Sport Vii, the MiWi, or, perhaps, the most pithily named: The “WiWi.” Qi Sheng Long created this particular Famiclone, but they’ve used a lot of aliases, including Hamy, Hengmei, King Game, Glory Power, and so forth. But this is just one example of the many challenges that Nintendo has had to deal with over the years.
#3: Fine Art
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Everyone has heard of replica art, which has been a booming industry throughout history. But good imitations and versions can take real skill to create, and there is one village in China that specializes in this approach. Near Hong Kong, Dafen is an urban Chinese village that has been described as a fine art factory. Countless Chinese artists flock to this village to earn a decent living creating Van Goghs, Monets and many others. While these may look somewhat like the originals to the untrained eye, they, well, really really aren’t.
#2: The White House
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The place where the leader of the free world resides is an icon for Americans. But it turns out there are a lot of places where replicas of the White House have popped up. There are several across the United States, one in Iraq, in Austria and, of course, China. In an exorbitant display of wealth, a wealthy tycoon reportedly spent $10 million creating this replica of the US president’s residence, even featuring a hall of US presidential portraits and an oval office with a Presidential seal on the floor. This isn’t the only instance of China being obsessed with foreign architecture, as they’ve constructed many famous landmarks and design replications across the country.
#1: Goojje
When you are not allowed to have something, sometimes you’re forced to make your own. At least, that’s what programmers in China felt they had to do. Around 2010, Google decided it would have to remove its services from the country after a series of hacking incidents and demands from the government to align with their censorship policies. This site was launched in response to them leaving. There are conflicting claims over whether the site was purely a spoof, an appeal to toe the government line, or a genuine attempt at keeping some free flow of information. But China has remained without Google since.
