Well the news we have all been waiting for, the operator of Xiangyang Rd Market (the famous Shanghai fake market) has announced that the market will officially close on 28th June 2006.
The 400,000 sqm site is officially being closed to make way for a metro station and new commercial site. The unofficial reason (and the more important reason) is to smooth the growing tensions in Europe and the US over the blatant IPR violations of some of their high profile brands. This is critically important for China as it comes under increasing critisicm of its inability (or desire) to effectively manage IPR violations.
My belief is that this is a step in the right direction, but it is really only effective at sending the message that China is taking IPR seriously. The effectiveness of this closure in stamping out these IPR violations is very much in doubt. We already know of several shops that have moved out of Xiangyang market and are now doing a thriving business in our local area. Read this.
Its not all bad news for the big companies when it comes to IPR, stories like this and this should give comfort to the big business out there.
With a little over 3 months of trading left, go and make the most of it while you can - here are our tips on shopping at Xiangyang market.
Update
Yep - its really closed!
Update
Recent Comments