If one more of my posts gets eaten by the computer I'm gonna scream. So we had to move hotels today because of a French medical conference. I am sure there are nice people from France, but they just keep irritating me.
One of the big issues here in China is intellectual property rights. They seem to be cleaning things up, or giving it minimal lip service. This follows each guidebook telling travelers to check out Xiangyang market, or as we say the Knock-off Market. You can buy nearly any name brand shirt, pants, sunglasses, watch, purse or whatever you want. They will assure you it is of the highest quality no matter how blazingly fake it is. My favorite line is "Please look. Genuine Fake." That's honestly in a sales pitch.
But don't get me wrong, the Chinese are doing everything they can to stop this. For example at one of the entrances to Xiangyang there are many huge banners with helpful tips like "Be a responsible consumer" and "Respect intellectual property." This is followed by 6-8 Chinese people yelling at you "Lady wanna buy purse? Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci. How about buy watch? Rollex. Very cheap, Lookie Lookie!" It's definitely a sight and worth the humor if you can stand being accosted the entire time you are there.
My favorite of these entrepreneurs is the DVD sellers. They are very aggressive and want you to come and look at their wares in a store backroom, warehouse, or suitcase on the street. The big controversy is when you could buy the new Star Wars III the day after it was released for about $1 US. But buying all kinds of DVDs for cheap has it's drawbacks. I like to call it DVD Roulette. There are several options for what you may get:
1. It plays.
2. It doesn't play because of region restrictions.
3. It plays, but it cuts out in the last 5 minutes.
4. It's in a language you don't speak.
5. It's a completely different movie that what was said.
All in all, it's a fun game and even if it doesn't play, you can still read the back covers. They are the beauty of mistranslation.
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