Though it is the leading market for Western luxury goods companies, China has consistently encouraged Chinese consumers to purchase high-end domestic brands. Having largely failed in this endeavour, Beijing is now happy to turn a blind eye to its own thriving counterfeiting industry, which boasts entire shopping centres on home soil that trade in fake goods.
The padded leather handbag with the gold chain strap in the shop window bears the logo "ENAHCL". All customers have to do is rearrange the letters and they will be in possession of a top-quality fake copy of Chanel's bestselling 22 model for a fraction of the price of the real thing (which is currently retailing in France for around €5,500). If the consumer is after a different model, they simply have to browse in the hundred or
