I think people underestimate the sheer scale and sophistication of the piracy industry in China and calling it an industy is more accurate than you could imagine. The discs being sold are not single or dual layer DVD-Rs. The discs come from proper DVD replication lines producing silver, pressed discs in single or dual layer varieties in huge volumes. The packaging is equally professionally done too with a quality inner sleeve and a printed and embossed cardboard outer sleeve. These discs are as good as the originals quite often.
The authorities are far from powerless to stamp this out. They choose not to since it is a large industry, employing a lot of people and contributes nicely to the government's tax coffers. They instead pay lip service to Hollywood and make a few token gestures to appear that they are cracking down on piracy. During he Beijing Olympics all of the stores selling these discs were shut down or had their shelves cleared of pirated material (meaning all for some stores) so that western journalists could not witness and report on the rampant piracy. 3 days after the paralympics over all the shops were back open for business as usual.
“Getting too close completely blurred what we saw to the point of incomprehension, but again, this shows a whole heap of potential that's fascinating to us.”
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I think people underestimate the sheer scale and sophistication of the piracy industry in China and calling it an industy is more accurate than you could imagine. The discs being sold are not single or dual layer DVD-Rs. The discs come from proper DVD replication lines producing silver, pressed discs in single or dual layer varieties in huge volumes. The packaging is equally professionally done too with a quality inner sleeve and a printed and embossed cardboard outer sleeve. These discs are as good as the originals quite often.
The authorities are far from powerless to stamp this out. They choose not to since it is a large industry, employing a lot of people and contributes nicely to the government's tax coffers. They instead pay lip service to Hollywood and make a few token gestures to appear that they are cracking down on piracy. During he Beijing Olympics all of the stores selling these discs were shut down or had their shelves cleared of pirated material (meaning all for some stores) so that western journalists could not witness and report on the rampant piracy. 3 days after the paralympics over all the shops were back open for business as usual.