CHINA:Call it chutzpah on a grand scale. Anyone who comes to Beijing as a tourist knows that the best address in town for getting knock-off North Face jackets, fake Armani belts and copied Louis Vuitton handbags is Silk Street.
Now the poacher has turned gamekeeper. In a display of astonishing cheek, Silk Street has launched its own brand of ties and scarves - and warned counterfeiters not to try and copy the new brand.
From the house of Silkstreet come ties, shirts, scarves and a few household items such as tablecloths, all "quality guaranteed" and "certified" by the Silk Street market.
As someone who has bought an Armani belt with a Hugo Boss buckle in Silk Street - that all fell apart after a couple of weeks - I'm not prepared to attest to the quality, but everyone has to go legit sometime. It is one of the consumer experiences of a lifetime to pass through its legion of saleswomen, each promising incredible bargains and accusing those unwilling to haggle of being "blackhearted men".
"Silkstreet products are sold exclusively in the market. Anyone using the brand outside will be held liable," Wang Zili, general manager of the market, told the Beijing Evening News.
Traders are under growing pressure to stop selling fake goods, particularly as the US government accuses the Beijing government of not doing enough to stamp out piracy and intellectual property theft. Washington has complained about China to the World Trade Organisation over the mountains of fake DVDs on sale, to the fury of the Chinese who claim they have been working to stamp out piracy.
Last year there were a number of successful prosecutions by big brands against traders in the market, which is adjacent to the US embassy and was transformed in recent years from a shabby collection of stalls into a huge shopping centre. There are still fake goods on sale, however, and fans of Silk Street are now waiting for the first fake Silkstreet products to hit the stalls.