China's KIRF marketplace captured on hidden camera
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 7th 2009 2:29AM
posted Oct 7th 2009 2:29AM
Love 'em, loathe 'em, or love to loathe 'em as you will, but the humble KIRF has a big place in our geek DNA -- that's why we were tickled when the gang over at Shanzhai.com paid the markets of Shenzhen, China, a 60 Minutes-esque visit complete with hidden camera. Although we've been hearing tales for years now about the legendary stalls deep in the heart of KIRFdom, Western visitors have rarely made the trip -- until now! And this clip has it all, including one of our all-time favorite head scratchers: the Buddha handset. But don't take our word for it -- grab yourself some popcorn and move on past the break to see it for yourself.
See more video at our hub!
fir......Kidding im not gonna go that low. Hey you gotta do what you gotta do to get by in China.
Supramans Random Quote of the day(Try an guess it): "Don't put it out with your boots TEDD!!"
I found real items from companies such as Nike, Reebok and etc but those were stolen goods from the factory that was being sold on the street. You just got to know where to look =D
Actually, they're not stolen as in proper nike goods stolen. They just open Nike the factories at night when not many others are around and skimp on the quality checks and sell the stuff in the streets. Their line managers are really strict on stealing stuff, but if you bribe the guards you can just get in and start pumping out air max's.
Therein lies the contradiction... capitalism cannot ever be considered advantageous to labor because capital is always looking to divide labor and take advantage of the weakest (so capitalists look for places where the populace is poor and desperate, and pay people as little as possible, that way they can also force you to take a substantially lower paying job too... lowering wages all around, and it's working, no?)...
It's how it's supposed to work. That is the whole f...ing point of capitalism. To complain about that seems misguided. If you're a supporter of capitalism, then your responsibility is to find out how you can become competitive while making the profit you deem desirable. That's it. Everyone else is trying to figure out how to pay labor as little as possible... that's actually why people try to get out of the laborer role and become the capitalist.
Anyway, a world full of Kirf's, and articles sourced from everyone else, is a world not worth living in. Originality is valued for a reason.
@Quantum
You should do some international business study. It's actually a win win situation that US is outsourcing to these third world country. Consumers get better price, Company gets more profit, and these people in third world country are getting paid. The only losers are those who feel entitled to higher pay and a bunch of benefits. The notion about human rights is bs too, what we consider to be human rights does not apply to everywhere else. It sickens me to see how people project their point of views about right and wrong and expect everyone to follow it.
I don't mind capitalism or competition or even greed, but when you leave out morality and ethics it becomes ugly. Like insurance companies denying coverage as soon as you become sick or financial corporations using legal loopholes to steal. Take collection agencies for example, they can buy your $50 debt and inflate it $5000 claiming legal fees and expenditure in trying to collect from you and it goes on your record.
@PleaseForgiveMe
The only rational way out of a race to the bottom was the idea of comparative advantage. For example, you can't start making Champagne in Siberia even if you want to. France therefore has a comparative advantage which allows for (relatively) highly paid, skilled workers. The US was given a comparative advantage by not having its mainland destroyed during the second world war. All of its factories and means of production were left unscathed. Even though Europe had lots of skilled workers, they had no infrastructure.
Amazingly, lead economists in the US pushed hard to give away this comparative advantage (which persisted for decades through advancements in productivity via high tech and research) during the 90's under the guise of free trade. I have no idea why this was done. Everything was "outsourced" and the race to the bottom began.
As soon as the US loses its role as reserve currency, it'll lose its super power status and its citizens will have to get used to being not so rich. The upside? It won't have the capital to continue aggressive expansion of its empire via endless war.
John Swanson
@ScienceisCool,
The US lost its competitive advantage in 60s, when the US productivity became stagnant. Since 1974 the US have been the world's leading borrower, turning to it from being the biggest creditor in 1940s and 1950s. So the myth of "competitive advantage" persisting for decades is inaccurate - the "productivity" growth was driven by spending and borrowing, not by the actual productivity advancements.
There was an ongoing augment, like Henry E. provided here, that outsourcing is good for the economy, as it benefits the consumer and shifts low-value jobs abroad. It turned into the biggest fallacy of all. Sure, on a small enough scale, outsourcing of low-value high-pollution jobs is great, but you have to be able to create new high-value jobs domestically. The US went nuts and outsourced everything - low-, mid- and high-value jobs to China and India. Instead, the jobs were created in the areas of consumption of goods and services produced by others. It is all cool for as long as others are willing to pay for you consuming their stuff. Except, China is perfectly capable consuming their own stuff themselves, without exchanging goods for the printed paper called the US dollar. The US quality of life was financed by borrowing abroad, and it is coming to an end.
And wars are have to be financed by someone. The US doesn't have this money, and China will not lend to the US to pay for the war with China.
"and China will not lend to the US to pay for the war with China."
Weirder things have happened throughout history, countries have sold weapons to their enemies more than once, don't apply logic to such matters, people are nuts - and greedy.
Guys, I was completely expecting everyone to see the tragic comedy of my post, but I come back to be surprised to see that my post was highly ranked. I'm not a supporter of capitalism, and it sounds like I am one of those sorts you so fondly loathe.
I know this won't win me too many friends on this site, and who cares frankly, but I personally detest the negative characteristics of capitalism that I pointed out as conditions above. I don't believe they should be overlooked and I don't think we as labor will survive if the salaries keep plummeting. Lowering salaries is not a temporary phenomenon... it just took Capitalists some time to remove te gains made by Organized Labor... that other thing most of you hate for god knows what reason. Organized Labor is why you get good pay, why you work 8 hours, why you work 5 days a week, why you get sick pay, why you get holidays, why you don't have to work from the age of 10. You can cherish capitalism all you want, but read the god damn history first, and then decide if it's really the best social mechanism available.
I wrote it that way on purpose, because I know a lot of people in the world are taught that capitalism is the ideal... and many people come to believe it. Me personally, I cannot sit and watch 3 billion people suffer through poverty, starvation, famine, disease, internal strife, simply because the other 4 billion people have not learned how to share. It makes me sick. I'm not a capitalist by choice... I participate to survive while I figure out how to get out and help those 3 billion people who are suffering. I am by no means fascinated by money or wealth... human beings, not just myself, matter to me more.
That's the irony. I was hoping some of you would see that you are labor and that it sucks to be labor in this system. Oh well. Maybe next time. :)
EDIT:
Replace this: I'm not a capitalist by choice...
With this: I don't participate in the capitalist system by choice...
By the way, I don't think that the socialism and communism we've seen so far as worth emulating either. There has to be something inbetween all of this that isn't so brutal or dreadful.
i thought he was going to go to a 2nd building of the same heh
Little do people realize (foreign and domestic) inhabitants - all of these KIRF phones/devices sold are also finanicially backed by black society/mafia groups aka organized crime units working in china.
it's all sold to these kirf dealers via distributors who are controlled by these organized crime units.
@Vanilla Sperm
It's not "black society", the proper term is triads.
Vanilla's been watching too much alt.binaries.asianusenet
I've been to these, they normally have tons of nice fake watches too, very fun.
i thought it was a myth. boy was i soo wrong...
BTW i would totally splurge myself on all that KIRF goodness
That was... thrilling.
Wait, 2007? LOL. Anyway, this is hardly a surprise at all, especially to those that have traveled to SE Asian countries.
However, most of US have not traveled to Asia and knew little of it.
The Majority of planet's population have not left their home country or village.
Most in the US have never left the country and will never be able to afford to. I know I wont.
2007? I saw two NokLas N97.. I think someone just traveled in time..
*shrugs* i move to hong kong in '79. this is really no different from what the golden computer arcade was, and if anything it's influence can be seen here (since shenzhen is just over the border). i can't see how this is surprising :/
I think what's surprising is the fact that an entire city block, or district exist with so many buildings that sell fake and counterfeit products...
something that would be a lawyers and police's dream in the western world...
and im sure most people havent travelled to the eastern world... so go figure
we used to buy fake apple games on 5.25inch floppies from golden computer arcade in 83 *shrugs*.
but the mid to late 90s we used to get people try and tell use fake watches on the streets. i still fail to see this as exciting :/
Ah! A fellow HK-er. I take it you frequent Sham Shui Po often then? You have to love how centralized everything there.
@fuzi, so you decided just to come in here and roll your eyes at everyone else who found this interesting? thanks! **shrug**
atleast they don't sell real Iphones (A)
Actually at least in Guangzhou about a year ago you could also get real iPhones (though they are obviously more expensive, I think it was around 500-700 €), just as easy as the KIRFs, in these sort of shopping malls, at least in those that were not specialized on KIRFs.
I once went to one of the markets and spotted a iPhone clone much the same. It was so laggy and fake I thought I had broke it (and if you 'break it' you end up having to buy it etc). There was a iPhone 'mini' right next to it.
why go all the way to china for this garbage when pretty much any major city in north america with a china town has the same thing on a little smaller scale.
you have almost the same things in every Chinatown, you just have to know where to look.
off course the selection will be much smaller due to most phones not operating on N.American bands
no news here, but good video none-the-less
I was surprised to see that the NOKIA banner wasn't NOKLA.
Just a lowercase L ;)
I have been to the Siaga market many times. Sure you can buy lots of crapola there but for the geek think of it as a giant Fry's with multiple buildings and floors of stuff.
yeah that suck guys so many fakes I mean ALL FAKES. . .
What's more mind boggling is how they shopkeepers are able to make rent. How many phones do they have to sell a month to cover the overhead of rent, utilities and labor costs? Everyone is selling pretty much the same thing, and how do they stand out from the next guy?
good question the answer is boob flashes and fan dances
You probably have a wrong idea of how much they pay in rent. Divide your assumption by 10.
This is hardly news especially if you have visited an Asian country within the past...40 years or more! Can we lower the amount of KIRF news please Engadget?
I second the request for less Kirf celebrations... and not because I've heard it all before.
Where is the CIA? FBI? SPD? LAPD?NYPD? Govement National Secruity?
In America.
I always thought they made buddha phone just for the lolz.
lol i think soon u can see an iphone running on android...these guys have great imagination
Did I just watch "Where the Wild Things Are"?
Man that's no news at all. I have taken pics and vids in such e-malls many years ago and I did it openly (they are selling KIRFS there even at supermarkets. You can do that on Canton fair two times a year too with much cooler stuff showed off. Some people just want to be in the news and Engadget is even stupid enough to give 'em the opportunity.
OMG, they KIRF'd Akihabara!!!