Xiaoyu thought the two pregnancies couldn’t just be a coincidence. She first suspected her boyfriend’s parents of tampering with the condoms in order for the couple to give birth to grandchildren. But her boyfriend, Xiaodong, tested the leftover condoms they had purchased from a nearby convenience store by filling them up with water, he found that 10 out of 12 of them leaked.

The couple contacted the media, which replicated the test with the couple’s remaining “Sixth Sense” brand 3C condoms, with similar results. The reporter spent another RMB 40 for two more boxes of condoms of the same brand, only to find that 7 out of 12 condoms leaked — one even had five holes in it.

The reporter determined the condoms were counterfeit after contacting the manufacturer and comparing serial numbers.

There have been multiple news stories regarding the sale of counterfeit condoms in China. Police seized fakes in Shanghai in April 2015 and in Guangzhou in January 2015. There were even 600,000 counterfeit condoms seized in Italy in July that year.

Xiaoyu said she wants to have children, but her current circumstances are preventing her from starting a family. She said the unwanted pregnancies have been a source of shame for her: “All of our neighbors and friends know about this and have been critical towards me. Some of them even say that I am shameless.”

“Our only option is to move, but we don’t know where we can move to.”

The post Fake Condoms On Sale in China, Leave Woman Pregnant Twice in 3 Months appeared first on The Nanfang.

In China, however, pirate radio has one predominant function: to sell unlicensed sex-enhancement drugs. And despite years of effort by Chinese authorities to crack down on the unlawful use of China’s airwaves, pirate radio in China still persists.

Pirate radio stations have been found in China in provinces and areas as diverse as Hubei, Liaoning, Chongqing, Heilongjiang, and Beijing. For years, these stations have been promoting penis-enhancement pills with fake call-in shows, or with automatically-repeating commercials. One commercial told its listeners, “In one week, your wife will be thrilled seeing your stamina in bed.”“In one week, your wife will be thrilled seeing your stamina in bed; in two months, I promise that your penis’s size will exceed the average for Asiann at 15 centimeters.”

In some cases, pirate radio stations broadcast on the same frequencies as legitimate radio stations and hijack their signal during commercial breaks, making listeners believe that the commercials are authentic.

Radio broadcast equipment can be easily purchased on e-commerce retailers like Taobao for RMB 4,000 ($600), and are then are set up in rooms rented in high-rise apartments or on rooftops. Authorities say the equipment can pose a health risk from the amount of radiation they emit.

The sexual enhancement drugs promoted on these pirate radio stations are often not available for purchase through legitimate avenues. Instead, the Global Times quoted several pharmaceutical agents who said “the medicine they sold could be self-produced or counterfeit.”

But despite numerous crackdowns, pirate radio stations have continued to plague Chinese airwaves.

Shenyang shut down 225 pirate radio stations in 2015, and another 66 this year. Last year also saw the closure of three illegal radio transmitters that broadcast during the September 2015 Beijing military parade. Beijing radio management authorities have detained seven suspects and seized over 50 sets of pirate radio equipment since March 2014.

In 2013, Chongqing authorities shut down eight transmitters and made one arrest.

Because the equipment does not require anyone to be present during broadcast, authorities are finding it difficult to make arrests even though their equipment is confiscated by police. To deter criminals, an amendment was made to China’s criminal law in 2009 that made operating a pirate radio station punishable with jail times up to seven years.

Pirate radio stations are also blamed for putting Chinese civil aviation at risk by interfering with radio wave transmission.

In January 2015, four flights landing at a Liaoning airport had their communications with the control tower disrupted by pirate radio signals. That year, the Beijing radio administration received 100 complaints from airlines regarding disruptions from pirate radio stations.

The post Pirate Radio Stations Selling Fake Penis Enhancement Drugs a Real Problem in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

For those readers who have never heard of a law prohibiting the use of cellphones on escalators, it’s because there is no such law. The five suspects who were arrested at Exit 20 at Xujiahui Subway Station on Shanghai Metro’s Line 11 were issuing fake fines of ten yuan to anyone talking on the phone while riding the escalator. “Violators” were given cheap-looking pink-colored tickets allegedly issued by the “Shanghai Public Transportation Order Supervision Administration”.

After arresting the five suspects, police discovered another uniform, a stack of pink receipts, and several signboards. The four suspects dressed as security guards explained to police that they were recruited as security guards by the fifth suspect, named Wei, from their hometown. After arriving in Shanghai last Saturday, the four were put to”work” the next morning at Xujiahui Station.

The Shanghai Metro has since clarified that talking on the phone while riding the escalator on the subway is not against the law in China.

The post Scam: Shanghai Commuters Fined for Talking on the Phone While On Escalator appeared first on The Nanfang.

In Chinese, something that is fake or unlicensed is often called “black”, thus a fake taxi in Chinese would be 黑车, or “black taxi” in English. Unfortunately for the driver, his brazenness did not go unnoticed by other taxi drivers. After the call was put out to look out for the “Black Taxi”, 50 taxi drivers descended upon the illegal driver, trapping him for the authorities, reports Guangdong TV.

The driver allegedly had been masquerading as a real taxi for sometime. As one taxi driver said, “I didn’t recognize the English letters on top.” Another driver was impressed with the illegal driver’s resourcefulness. “We have never seen this kind of sign before,” he said.

It seems like there is truth in advertising, after all.

The post Oops: Guangdong Driver Sports “Black Taxi” Sign in English, Gets Busted appeared first on The Nanfang.

Around 88,000 counterfeit Viagra pills, and another 95,000 fake pills of other brands, were seized after a counterfeit ring was busted last year, worth an estimated 37 million yuan ($5.65 million).

The seizure included 1.42 million unfinished medicinal products, said Huang Shouying, Director of the Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security.

The announcement did not specify when the seizure was made, although it reported another successful, contemporaneous crackdown in Dongguan. In total, 23 arrests were made last year on counterfeiting medicine rings.

In November, the Dongguan Public Security Bureau announced that it had confiscated 1.8 million fake erectile dysfunction pills. The result of a five month-long investigation, the seizure included 440,000 finished pills and 1.4 million unfinished pills still in production (pictured above).

Guangdong has been a hotspot for counterfeit goods, particularly erectile dysfunction products such as Viagra.

In August 2014, some 140,000 counterfeit condoms and male performance enhancers worth RMB 3 million were seized from Guangdong factories in Chaozhou and Zhongshan, and three arrests were made. Another 140,000 fake Viagra pills were seized from a Qianhai residence in Shenzhen, Guangdong in February 2014. In 2012, a pharmacy in the City’s Luohu District was busted for selling fake pills.

In 2013, Medpage Today reported that almost 77 percent of male performance enhancement drugs purchased online were fake. In their study, they found that the fake pills tended to be a darker blue colour, and were heavier and thicker than the real pill.

The post Guangdong a Hotspot for Fake Pills as Phony Viagra Seized in Dongguan appeared first on The Nanfang.

First noticed by eagle-eyed redditor named rockyrainy, a Google Map perspective of the Chinese-version does bear an uncanny resemblance to the authentic version. However, the Chinese counterfeit is not an artificial island that juts out into the sea. While Jinzhou is near water, the fake Palm Island is land-locked with water from a nearby tributary.

The Chinese-Palm Island was made by digging an artificial lake around the outline of the “palm”, and then allowing the water to come in and act like a “moat”. The fake Palm Island remains a mystery, as it doesn’t show up in Baidu Maps even though its neighbor to the south, Mianzhou World Expo Park, is clearly represented.

For comparison, here’s the fake Palm Island and Dubai’s real one:

The post China Builds Dubai’s Palm Islands in Icy Cold Lioaning appeared first on The Nanfang.

While they appear to be the same “red Mao’s” as before, these new 100 yuan notes are equipped with new security features that make them more difficult to counterfeit and easier to be recognized by bank machines. It should become easier than ever for the average person to discern an authentic bill from a fake one, and it doesn’t just involve rubbing Mao’s shoulder for verification.

So what’s the difference between the old and new bills?

New security features on the revamped bills include: the ink of the denomination changes color from green to gold when the note is tilted, there’s an additional serial number printed vertically on the right side (seen printed in blue), there’s now a dotted security strip on the face of the bill (referred to as an “optical-variable security thread”) that changes color from hot pink to green, depending on the angle; and the image of the Great Hall of the People on the back of the bill is now slightly raised.

The change has been a long time coming, with the last set of alterations to the 100 yuan note made in 2005. And yet, China has been dealing with counterfeit money for some time now. The proliferation of counterfeit bills rose by a quarter last year, amounting to 532 million yuan ($85 million).

However, anyone hoping for a larger denomination than 100 will be disappointed. As yet, there has been no announcement about a possible 500 yuan note.

The post New and Improved Chinese 100 Yuan Note Out Today appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to a recent Xinhua news report, only about 60 percent of all online goods purchased in China were genuine. That of course means that 40 percent of goods purchased online were either counterfeit or of questionable quality.

The report, issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, revealed that upwards of 78,000 complaints were made last year by Chinese purchasers who bought counterfeit or questionable goods. That’s a rise of 357 percent since 2013. The Chinese consumer association took up a total of 20,135 cases, 92 percent of which concerned online purchases.

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba has been trying to combat a reputation for selling fake products online. Currently lobbying to stay off a US blacklist, Alibaba is known for having publicly disputed with Chinese government officials over the issue.

Whether or not Alibaba and others have been selling counterfeit goods, it certainly hasn’t impacted online sales in China. Last year, online purchases increased 40 percent amounting to an impressive 2.8 trillion yuan.

Related:

• Singles’ Day Grows from Humble Beginnings to Massive Shopping Bonanza
• “Single’s Day” leads to explosion in e-commerce as singles celebrate
• Feud Between Taobao and the Government Over Counterfeit Goods Heats Up
• Alibaba Delivering Tea by Drone

The post 40 Percent Of Goods Purchased Online In China Are Probably Counterfeit appeared first on The Nanfang.

Recent Chinese media reports show that one of the fake US Capitol Buildings in Wuhan, Hubei has fallen into disrepair after being abandoned when funds ran out before it could be completed (seen above in the gallery). While its similarity to the Wasington institution may be a coincidence, Chinese media have drawn a direct comparison by calling the Wuhan US Capitol Building a shanzhai (山寨) version, meaning “fake” or “counterfeit”.

With its interior still left to be finished, the fake five-story US Capitol Building was designed to be a hotel, and is shaped like a giant “U”. As with the authentic Capitol Building in Washington, this building sports a large, open round space topped by a dome.

Despite the tragedy of a dream left unfulfilled, Chinese enthusiasts of US political architecture need not be too upset as they are swimming in a rich pool of fake international landmarks. In fact, there is already a fake US Capitol Building that is completed and fully-functional in the same city (see in the gallery below).

The Wuhan Trade and Commerce Vocational School has as a faculty building that looks very similar to the US Capitol Building, but it’s not the only such imitation on campus grounds. Also at the school is a library in the shape of a pyramid as well as an accompanying sphinx, an Arc de Triomphe, as well as several Greek statues surrounding a water pool.

Can’t keep track of all these white buildings with pillars? Here’s a photograph of the real US Capitol Building for reference:

It appears that China’s economy is not robust enough to support the building of two counterfeit US Capitol Buildings, but it is vibrant enough to build two fake Sphinx, a fake Louvre pyramid as well as localized fake versions of Tianan’men Square and the Great Wall of China.

Whether they be raw knock-offs or venerable homages to their original inspirations, the Chinese trend of copying things does not appear to be ending soon.

The post Where Is This Building? A Hint: Not in Washington, DC appeared first on The Nanfang.

On Friday morning, the PLA Daily sent out the following post on Weibo that included nine pictures (seen in the gallery above):

(translated) Test your eyes and have a look at these unnaturally effective camouflage
Camouflage is achieved by using paint, dyes and other materials to blend in with a cover or with background surroundings. Modern camouflage attire isn’t just limited to (civilians) wearing it, but also for use during warfare. Have a look and test your eyes; in the following pictures, can you find the people in them?

But that’s when we started to get suspicious. First, commentators in the PLA Daily pointed out each of these camouflaged people are conspicuously featured as the main subject of each photograph, almost as if they want to be seen.

On further inspection, there are other strange details: the “soldiers” use guns without scopes as well as non-traditional weapons like compound bows. They are also using animal calls or antlers as if to attract animal prey, and they are often seen with baseball hats with the same logo on it. If things don’t add up, it’s because these pictures are actually hunters in America wearing camouflaged products made by US-based sporting goods retailer Realtree.

Here’s how the People’s Daily Online published the story:

And here’s a screengrab from the Realtree hunting website promoting its Realtree Xtra Green Camouflage products:

To be fair, the PLA Daily did not explicitly say that the camouflaged people in the photographs are PLA soldiers. However, they didn’t say they were from Realtree either, and the paper isn’t known for showcasing equipment and technology that doesn’t belong to the PLA.

The People’s Daily Online reported the photos depict “combat uniforms featuring camouflage patterns”. Similarly, 21CN said these are “camouflage warfare outfits” while iFeng called them “Real warfare camouflage”. Both Sohu Military and AK Military News said these are “Camouflaged outfits of PLA soldiers”, captioning the photos with “The outfits of the PLA are enough to make people gasp in astonishment.” Likewise, the following Weibo users are under the impression that the person depicted is a Chinese soldier, writing, “Camouflage outfits of the PLA soldiers will test your sight: looks exactly like a tree, but holds a gun”

Only one out of the nine photos included in the original PLA Daily post does not appear to be affiliated with Realtree — it’s the last one (in the gallery) in which a person is seen crawling among a pile of rocks.

The post PLA Publishes Photos of “Chinese Soldiers” That Are Actually From a US Hunting Magazine appeared first on The Nanfang.