Content area
Full Text
Faked in China: Nation Branding, Counterfeit Culture and Globalization Fan Yang Bloomington and Indianapolis : Indiana University Press , 2016 xvi + 284 pp. £21.99 ISBN 978-0-253-01846-5
Book Reviews
Over the past decade countless media reports and publications have highlighted the problem of goods that are made or processed in China. A great deal of the international coverage is negative; even within China many consumers exhibit mixed feelings about Chinese products. Faked in China represents a different kind of response to the ubiquity of the "Made in China" brand. The use of the vernacular expression "faked" is symptomatic of the fact that many products "made in China" contravene intellectual property laws. While "faked in China" ostensibly plays to a negative connotation, the book advances an alternative understanding by which people can make, remake and circulate their own "versions."
Fan Yang shows how counterfeit culture underpins a variety of manifestations ranging from physical objects to independent cinema to bazaars. Examples are largely drawn from popular culture. In re-evaluating China's global "brand" reputation, Yang adopts a textual approach, utilizing a wide variety of critical theory. There are multiple sources in Chinese and English. The texts include television programmes, TV commercials, cinema, news reports, blogs, interviews and online forums.
The book has...