China: Knock Off and Piracy Capitol of the World
You Can Buy a Van Gogh Reproduction for Less Than $10 in China
Dafen, a village in Guangdong Province in southern China, is known for the mass production of imitations of masterpieces by artists such as Van Gogh and Monet. This tiny village in China which is only about 2.5 square miles, has about 700 buildings, many of which are reproduction shops and art galleries. In fact, stylish art galleries line the main street of the Chinese village.
Dafen is a city with about 3000 painters. They of course have never seen the actual paintings they reproduce, but rather work from photographs of the originals. Some of the Chinese artists can turn out as many as 50 paintings per day. Each year millions of paintings are created in this one little Chinese village and are exported throughout the world, including the United States and Europe.
Most of the painters are from inland rural areas of China. Many of them had absolutely no art experience or training until they went through the three-month long gallery-sponsored art training course. In fact, many of them had never even seen an oil painting prior to coming to Dafen.
The production method is unique in that it is done in assembly line fashion. When a large order is received, about 10 painters line up. One painter may paint only skies. Another may paint mountains. This continues down the line, with each painter completing his part before passing the painting to the next artist in line. At the end of the line, the "masterpiece" is complete. The reproductions are a bit rough, but are a fair copy of the original.
A reproduction of Sunflowers by Van Gogh was offered to the reporter who went to this village for a mere $7.86. They had more than 20 reproductions of Sunflowers, so were happy to cut a deal.
In spite of Dafen's dubious reputation in the Western world, the Chinese government has designated Dafen as a "model area of cultural development" and the village is lauded as an example of a prosperous project which promotes a village's economy.
Copyright protection does expire 50 years after the death of the original creator, so it is not illegal to reproduce art and make a profit on knock offs by famous artists such as Van Gogh. However, in China, many knock offs of paintings by artists such as Picasso, who died less than 50 years ago, not to mention contemporary artists, are also routinely reproduced.
Source: Asia News (January 4-10 2008) Giving Copyright by Takuji Kawata in Dafen
Published by Rebecca Livermore - Featured Contributor in Travel
Rebecca Livermore has been a freelance writer since 1993. Although she started off writing for print magazines, in recent years she has switched her focus to writing for the web. She writes on many subjects,... View profile
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- Chinese Art
- Dafen has over 3000 artists who reproduce famous paintings.
- Some artists paint as many as 50 paintings per day.
- Many of the artists had no art experience prior to the three-month long training program.
33 Comments
Post a CommentThis article has many fascinating details-thanks for the info!
Ya know what's hillarious? The way the Chi-Com government is copyrighting the OLYMPIC SYMBOL and mascot for the Beijing Games (and even imprisoning vendors and confiscating bootleg olympic merchandise) and protecting the copyright with every muscle in their collective body. Talk about hypocrisy!
I agree with the government that this village has team work all together...The project is a bad one, however. Something needs to be done about this. (I doubt anyone would believe that a picasso could be purchased for $20, but the pervayors of the scam may charge a lot more!
This is a sad situation .They need to exercise some creativity and stop copying. Very well written.
Very interesting. Personally I'd rather have the real thing or nothing at all, but those who are willing to buy cheap knockoffs will keep it going. Excellent article!
Another great article! Personally, I don't see much wrong with reproducing copies of these famous paintings. Half the time, the reproductions are probably as good or better than a simple (usually washed out) photocopy that can be bought at a standard hobby store like Hobby Lobby or Target or Wal-Mart's poster section. At least these reproductions have real paint and texture on them and everyone knows they're not the real thing. However, it is too bad that these people can't find the creativity or opportunity to create original artwork. I also find it very funny that all the painter-copiers are in one town, just like every other business in China - entire towns are devoted to a single item or category! Thanks for sharing this article!
I have to agree with Kassidy. As long as there are people out there to buy these imitation pieces, then this will continue.
Sophie
Its sad to say but i make a heck of a living selling knockoff handbags. The thing is people know their buying them but they cant afford to buy the real thing so they settle for a great look alike for far less. Im not proud of what I do but it put food on the table for the kids when my 9 to 5 cant supply the funds to do it. I know if I offered most of you on this forum a chance to buy these bags for $35 and you could resell them for as much as $100 to $200, you would jump at it just like the hundreds of people that buy from me do. Times are hard and people are to the point where they are willing to look the other way and say to themselves,( Its not so bad) and go sell them to others that want it. And believe me, there are a lot of people that want them too. Thats all
Freaking China. They're killing our economy. Oh well, we wanted trade agreements with them, not much we can do about it now. It's sad though.
Important topic and yes, China knockoffs are really hurting our economy. I came across some statistics that put most any other criminal industry to shame.