– Beijing Wangfujing Xin Dong’An (北京王府井步行街)
– Beijing Chaoyang Joy City (北京朝阳大悦城)
– Shanghai Nanjing West Rd (上海南京西路中创大厦)
– Shanghai’s Hong Kong Plaza (上海淮海中路香港广场).

Despite the lower price tag, i’ve heard of several people complaining about its quality here. GAP quality was never anything to write home about, but compared with those sold abroad, apparel sold in China is reportedly worse (note: some of it is not made locally) . That said, it’s still proving highly popular with the locals.

In other matters, Mövenpick have now launched in Beijing with a store in Chaoyang Joy City (朝阳大悦城). Priced similar to Häagen-Dazs® (well established in China already), though with a more limited offering, this signifies an expansion beyond Mövenpick cartons already available in many hotels and specialist shops.

It’s now also my new ice-cream hangout of choice.

In addition to the Clio Coddles on Shanghai’s prestigious Nanjing Road (南京路), I came across HengHee (pictured) – two in fact, one not far from the famed Peace Hotel. In this small area, nearby is NuoManDiEYu and just opposite that: the real deal LaCoste.

Although HengHee is not an entire rip off, the attempt to re-use the crocodile is obvious considering the number of other reptile choices. What impresses me is they all clearly do well enough to afford the Nanjing Road rental costs. What I wonder is, how many people buying are actually from Shanghai vs. unsuspecting tourists from outside provinces.

If country bumpkins are cash cows, I feel like i’m missing out here!

Anyone want to invest in a Collo Collo? I’ll use an upside down crocodile as my logo.

The name of course, bares too close a resemblance to renowned Hong Kong chains Chow Tai Fook (周大福) and Chow Sang Sang (周生生) – no doubt an easy way to capitalise on well established brands and unsuspecting mainlanders. Incidentally Chow Tai Fook was established 1929 whilst Chow Sang Sang was formed in 1934, both in GuangZhou and only later relocating to Hong Kong.

Chow Tai Seng however, was formed in 1999 in ShenZhen – but the founding company was at least setup by a Mr. Zhou who worked in the jewelry business since the 1930′s.

All three, you could argue, are mainland companies.

So maybe not a complete rip off… but i’m still sure the name was no coincidence.

Pictured here is the Wangfujing (王府井) store, on the pedestrian street.

I wonder whether it would be more expensive than the US stores, as most branded goods in China are. Better stick to TaoBao.

Spotted in a cheap Beijing shopping mall: Tuogo Jeans.

This casual, hip clothing brand looks to me like a blatant rip-off of Hong Kong brand Tough Jeans. Surely the logos are not a coincidence?

In a recent trip through Changsha in Hunan Province (湖南长沙) I stumbled across this shop, only some few hundred metres away from the Clio Coddle itself. I didn’t see a Crocodile or Lacoste in the vicinity however. I suppose by now i’m hardly surprised, though it does amaze me how shoppers can fall for such blatant rip offs unless, that is, they don’t care about branding at all – in which case what’s the point to copy? I do wonder.

The english (NuoManDiEYu) is basically Chinese pinyin for “The Romantic Crocodile” (诺曼的鳄鱼). Notice the logo is also a crocodile, pointing in the same direction as that of Clio Coddle’s.

Not far from NuoManDiEYu I noticed Kobbo. Looks disturbingly similar to Italian clothing company Kappa, which had an official store only some 50 metres away. Kappa, who also own the Robe di Kappa brand, were a little known brand in China until brought into China in 2006 by the China Dongxiang Group. Now listed on the stock exchange, owner Chen Yihong is now amongst the 50 richest men in China.

I don’t suppose Kobbo would ever get that far.

Further to my previous post on Apple Mac alipay / taobao support, it turns out there is now a way to make online purchases in China using a Macintosh computer. Using China Merchants Bank and a WAP enabled mobile phone, it’s possible to action a payment without the need for browser restrictions or installing pointless plugins.

Prerequisites:

1. You will need an account with China Merchants Bank and have activated online banking. Unfortunately there is currently no English version. Furthermore you must have a mobile phone number registered, activated online payments, and raised your payment limit beyond zero.
2. GPRS / WAP activated mobile phone. Through the payment process, you will be sent an SMS containing a link. Click through to confirm your purchase with your PIN code on the resulting webpage opened on your phone.

Procedure:

1. At checkout, you will have a selection of banks to choose from. In some cases, you may need to first select payment gateway. Pictured is Alipay’s (支付宝) bank selection page. If shopping outside of Taobao, selection of payment gateway will usually result in a new window redirected to the payment gateway. Of course, you must select Merchant’s Bank here followed by, in this case, the big yellow button below.
2. Typically a second page by the payment gateway will simply confirm your bank choice. If no problems, click to proceed.
3. You should then be redirected to China Merchants Bank payment screen. Note the third tab on the right (手机支付) – this does not require any plugins, and therefore works on the Mac. If you are already registered for this service, choose between Credit (信用卡) or Debit card (一卡通), enter your registered cellphone number (手机号码), the last four digits of your card (卡号后四位) and finally the code displayed on that page. 确定 to submit.
4. You will receive an SMS with a URL. Click through to access payment screen on your mobile – this should work both with a smartphone browser, and WAP. You will need to enter your online payment PIN (支付密码) and captcha shown (验证码). Upon confirming, payment will be completed if there are no problems. Look for the words 支付成功.

Realistically, this is still too complicated if you don’t read any Chinese. However, for existing online banking users who wish to pay using a Mac: once setup, this should be a breeze.

To adjust your online payment limit, login to Merchants Bank Online Banking (on a Windows PC, unfortunately) then find “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付额度管理”. Here you can enter a new limit.

Your mobile number record can be found at “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付联系信息修改”

If you have not yet registered for Merchants Bank Online Banking, you must do so at any bank branch.

在中国大陆的苹果用户现在终于有途径进行网上购物啦！所有招行用户如开通了一卡通手机支付功能可通过手机验证确认支付。流程简单：只需先选用招行支付，然后在招行弹出的窗口内点击手机支付。最后把您注册的手机号输入，加上招卡后四位和显示的验证码输入提交就可进行手机支付，苹果电脑无需要安装任何插件。当你手机收到招行短信后点击短信内的连接，再通过手机输入注册的支付密码确认支付。

虽然此方式不能全算是苹果电脑支持，但起码大陆苹果用户终于有途径支付了。

注意：使用手机支付必需提前开通网上支付功能并调好足够的支付额度。招行专业版支付额度和一卡通额度是分开的，你可通过招行网银“网上支付”目录找出“一卡通支付额度管理”调整额度。

如需修改注册手机号可点击 “网上支付” -> “一卡通支付联系信息修改” 调整

详细流程可参考本博客英文文章。

Apple users in China have long been treated as second class citizens when it comes to surfing the web. Quite simply, many sites just don’t work well. Often one is confronted with buttons that don’t click, pictures that are misaligned, or login boxes that don’t allow you to login. Alipay (支付宝) and Taobao (淘宝网), China’s biggest online payment platform and auction site respectively have long required special Active X / Javascript plugins to work properly – typically these are released exclusively for Internet Explorer only. Now, however, it’s possible to download a Mac version of this plugin.

Note: This only works on Safari at present.

Upon entering Alipay or Taobao, you should notice a link (请点此输入密码) in lieu of the password prompt at the login form. Click this link, and you will get an inline popup. If you do not see a link but are able to enter your password in the form, you might have already installed the plugin or Alipay might have finally come to their senses!

Otherwise, now click the button (立即安装) to download the plugin.

The plugin will work for both Alipay and Taobao sites (they are both same company), though may require a restart of your safari browser first.

That Apple users are finally gaining some recognition in China is excellent news, though there’s still a long way to go. Unfortunately even after your purchase on Taobao you will be faced with a payment problem as most online banking platforms are not Apple compatible. Nonetheless it’s a good beginning, and at least payment is still possible via pre-deposit into Alipay or through other methods such as mobile phone topup card.