Yang Han
In less than 30 years, Shenzhen has achieved a huge leap in socio-economic and urban construction and has become a model of rapid expansion of the urbanization. Since 2008, Shenzhen joined creative city member of UNESCO as a creative city of design. Nowadays, accompanied with the rapid economic growth in Shenzhen, it’s capacity for manufacture is well known by the word “Shanzhai”, which used to refer to counterfeit consumer goods. This article focuses on the broad spread of “Shanzhai” culture and how this unusual phenomenon became a representative icon of Shenzhen’s creative industry, even how “Shanzhai” reshaped by the development of the creative city and turned into the culture of “Maker”. Moreover, a critical analysis of the entanglement relationship between “Shanzhai” culture and the consequences of creative industry’s rapidly rise such as gentrification. By deeply research and discuss those issues, this article is targeting to summarize and absorb experience from Shenzhen’s development pattern under the creative city term and understanding how maker culture has impacted it.
“Shanzhai” to “Maker” ; Critical Analysis ; Creative Industry ; Maker Movement