The Best things in Life are... Knockoffs?

I was at the little supermarket here at Peking University, as I am almost every week, buying a few western dietary necessities. Glancing down at a plastic-wrapped parcels of apples I noticed that they were,in fact, Washington apples. My head spun at the improbability of these delicious red orbs being here in Beijing. Food miles be damned, I thought. I'm getting these.

I returned to my room, ready to crack into these crisp, fresh delights of the pacific Northwest. But when I began to peel the familiar little sticker off, I noticed that there was something peculiar about the insignia. First of all, it wasn't coming off. What demented Washingtonian had crazyglued the stickers on? Then I realized that these were not in fact "WASHINGTON" apples, but the produce of "WASHNGTON."

Counterfeit... fruit?

Now, barring the possibility that there is a Washngton, China that is famous for it's produce, I would say that these were elaborate fakes.

As fakes go though, these were impressive. Exempting the typographical error, the iconography was spot on, as is the case with a lot of the counterfeit goods here. For a moment I felt like a dumb foreigner who had gone looking for a western product at cut rate prices and been duped, but I consoled myself in the reassurance that the Chinese bought these fakes by the barge load.

The Silk Market, which is the most popular and iconic place to buy knockoffs, has universal appeal to westerners and Beijingers alike. The fakes at the Silk Market are more than passable, even flawless in many cases. But it isn't generally the quality that people are interested in, it is the iconography of a designer label.

The namesake of a brand or a designer seems to be more impactful than the credibility of the article itself. My beloved Washington apples are somewhat analogous to a "Duke & Gabbano" belt buckle or a "Nokig" cell phone. The typography is similar, the look is decent, and the attitude is, "why not?"

"Ipones" can be bought for a few hundred RMB and an pair of "Levis" goes for clearance prices at the most, but buyers are hardly in the dark about the brazen misrepresentations of brand. So whatever admiration there is for western goods is far overshadowed for the irreverent passion for fakes. Even if the fakes aren't the best quality, the label itself serves a need of the mind without the high price tag.

As for needs of the stomach, the apples were still delicious, even if they weren't from Washington.