I’ve seen Chinese scroll art at most of the markets in Beijing and Xi’an. I’ve always thought it was kind of tacky, but would make a good gift – the kind of gift you give someone and they say thanks, but it’s kind-of an awkward moment. Then years later while visiting their house for fondue or something you go downstairs and see it hanging, tattered and abused, on their basement wall. It’s basement art – appropriately kitschy.
Author: Chris
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Silk Market Facts
I’ve been studying intellectual property in China for a few weeks and have already highlighted the complete failure to enforce IP rights effectively. The most egregious example being the Silk Market, which has seven floors of counterfeit goods. Anywhere you look you can spot a dozen trademark violations. Yet, apparently the market continues to thrive.
Here is some data from the People’s Daily Online:
- In 2005, the Silk Market moved into its current building from outdoor stalls.
- It once drew 100,000 shoppers a day.
- It once had sales in excess of RMB 100,000,000 per year.
What baffles me is that the article says,
The Beijing Xiushui Clothing Co. Ltd. was planning to cooperate with Taiwan businesses to set up a new Xiushui Market in Taipei
How can the government sanction such activities when they know the market sells what it sells?
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Michigan Wine
“Michigan’s Wine Country Grows Where the Cherry Is King” – a NYT article about what great wine Michigan has to offer. The focus is on Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties in the northwestern part of lower Michigan. (By the tip of the pinkie finger is you look at the palm of your right had.)
I’m not a big fan of the cherry wines, which are very sweet. But both the white and red wines I tried at the Leland Wine Festival in early June were delicious.
It’s always fun to see your home area highlighted for good products.
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Happy Friday the 13th
How are you celebrating Friday the 13th? We have a couple horror movies to watch here: Ghost Rig and Vacancy. Actually, we got six DVDs for 25RMB ($3.50US). Not bad.
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Recent Chinese News
OK, here’s a quick list of China news stories I’ve come across in the last couple of days:
“Who wants a Hover Wingle?” – Could China have picked a better name for the first Chinese-made car? I think not. The cars are selling very well in Europe, not for their horrendous safety record, but because they’re so damn cheap.
“Beijing Censors Silence Influential Newsletter” – The headline should read, NPC doesn’t like idea of free media. With only CCTV, I don’t like the NPC.
“Billions of Rats Invade China” – This isn’t that new, but it’s gross. I can’t imagine what a billion rats would be like. It makes me want to leave the country.
“Cardboard Chinese Food” – Great, I heard about this eight hours after eating dumplings twice in one day.
“Chinese Internet Usage Rivals U.S.” – Yeah, and they only have a billion more people than us.
“China Executes Former Watchdog Chief” – So, this is what happens when you take bribes for food.
“A Virgin Mary-themed Urinal? Online in China” – Forget Summer Palace, forget Terracotta Warriors, forget Forbidden City – seeing stuff like this is what makes a trip to China worth while. However, I don’t think I’ll be down that way.
(This post makes me realize that I get most of my news – especially while traveling – from blogs. And it all seems credible. That’s kind of weird.)
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Anti-DRM T-Shirts
I would classify myself as an anti-DRM person. I like my MP3s to work when and where I want them to. And I want to play them as many times as I want to on as many machines as I want.
That’s greedy, but it’s also the mainstream thought process when it comes to digital music, which has proved very difficult to protect (from the label’s perspective). And very easy to obtain from the “listener’s” perspective.
However, I also fall into a group of people who don’t mind that Apple has a vice grip on my media, players, computer, etc. etc. I’m OK with only being able to play my music on iTunes and my iPod because I really like the iPod. But, as you may have heard (because Steve Jobs made it abundantly clear) that Apple is not the one behind the iTunes DRM, the labels are.
I get why. They want to protect music. But it doesn’t work. And because it doesn’t work, and there isn’t a clear alternative other than completely abandoning DRM, which is a scary proposition, they’re clinging to it for the moment. People want expect music (and movies to a lesser degree) for free, now. But that’s hardly fair to the people putting in time and effort to make what we love to listen to and watch.
So, what is the answer? Maybe make some t-shirts like these.
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Happy Fair Use Day
Happy Fair Use Day, which was apparently today or yesterday. It’s tough keeping track while living a day ahead of what I’m used to. (Link)
This is §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, which provides a for exception to an author’s exclusive rights that come with copyright. Fair Use is generally what allows you to reproduce limited amounts of an author’s work for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research” without infringing on an his copyright.
Be careful, though. If you use the “heart” of the author’s work (E.g. – A passage from a book that is so compelling as to be the only reason to buy the book.) then you could be found to be infringing.