중국의 모방 · 복제 관행과 지적재산권의 문화정치

This article explores the cultural-political meanings implied in the practices and discourses of imitation/copying in contemporary China. The social representations of daoban and shanzhai ― two representative strands of imitation / copying practices dominant during the 1990s and the late 2000s, respectively ― reveal sharp distinctions in their cultural recognition and political sensitivity. Attentive to their commonalities and distinctions, the article critically examines (1) the politico-economic backdrops against which the two discourses were produced and disseminated, (2) the process in which negative social connotations of daoban have increased while the shanzhai phenomenon and discourse has grown, and (3) the framing influences of intellectual property rights language in this process. Based on a critical examination of these points, the article argues that the discursive transition from daoban to shanzhai has largely synchronized with the strategic process in which state and society have explored autonomous appropriation of the institutional system of intellectual property rights. It also concludes that the discursive transition involves a cultural-political project to efface the national image of “pirates” produced by western countries by asserting Chinese civil frames of justice and ethics.