shanzhai

English

Etymology

c. 2000s, from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 山寨 (shānzhài).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑːnˈd͡ʒaɪ/

Noun

shanzhai (uncountable)

1. Imitation and trademark infringing brands and goods of usually poor quality, particularly electronics made in China.
   • 2009 February 6, Tyra Dempster, Ben Blanchard, “"Sham glam" sweeps China as fakes get trendy”, in Miral Fahmy, editor, Reuters‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 March 2023, Lifestyle‎^[2]:

     Many “shanzhai” goods sport altered names, trying to tread a fine line between imitation and straight-out fake, and cost much less than their above-board, well-known brand-name equivalents. […]
     The brazenness of the imitations has added to their attraction. Beijing’s electronics markets enjoy a roaring trade in “shanzhai” goods.

Translations

imitation and trademark infringing brands and goods

• Afrikaans: seerowery, vervalsing (af), nabootsing
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山寨 (zh) (shānzhài)

• Esperanto: falsado, falsigita, piratado
• German: Piraterie (de) f, Fälschung (de)
• Japanese: 山塞 (sansai), 偽物 (ja) (nisemono), パチモン (pachimon) (slang), パチモノ (pachimono) (slang)
• Korean: 불법 복제 (bulbeop bokje), 위조 (ko) (wijo)
• Portuguese: pirataria (pt) f, falsificação (pt) f, xing ling (pt) m
• Russian: пиратство (ru) (piratstvo), фальсификация (ru) (falʹsifikacija), подделка (ru) (poddelka)
• Spanish: piratería (es) f, falsificación (es) f
• Tagalog: pandarambong, palsipikasyon, huwad, imitasyon
• Vietnamese: sự giả mạo, nghề ăn cướp

See also

• zhing-zhong
• xing ling

Further reading

• shanzhai at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.