Compared with the big branded names in cellphones, small shanzhai businesses come equipped with "powerful and efficient sensors". Their speed and bottom-up networks of distribution allow them to get ideas for designs and functionality directly from agents and customers.

People in rural India want a low-cost, jewel-encrusted cellphone that displays pictures of local gods - done. Obama is wildly popular and people want a phone that displays his smiling face - no problem.

In Shenzhen, shanzhai has created an anti-corporate community that is fast, flexible and willing to take risks. This do-it-yourself, grassroots ethos has spread virally throughout Chinese culture.

Today, the word shanzhai can be used to describe anything that is non-official, underground and inexpensive with acceptable quality. Shanzhaiism has become a philosophical term denoting a style of innovation with a rural mind-set.

The cool DIY spirit of shanzhai has a nationalistic pride, but it is rooted not in the strength of the state but in the flexible, creative culture of the street.

Shanzhai (translated as copycat) is one of ten words to best capture contemporary China.

Courtesy: The Globalist

The author is an assistant professor at NYU Shanghai.