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Harry Potter with Chinese Characteristics

Plagiarism between Orientalism and Occidentalism

Institute of Chinese Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany

Chinese bogus books are commonly treated as matters of copyright infringement. Using the example of two of the Harry Potter fakes that were published in the PRC in 2002, it is argued that there are sufficient grounds to consider these fakes as pieces of art in themselves. As fakes, they simultaneously employ two strategies: they use the value of the original (as a commercial tool to increase readership), but at the same time, they want to break out of this narrow frame in order to be recognized as a fake, that is, as an original that only appears as a counterfeit. On this basis, it becomes obvious that these Harry Potter texts mirror recent trends of both popular culture and elite discussions. Using the Orientalism/Occidentalism framework, this article shows how the different notions of "China" and "the West" employed can be seen as indications for the "Chineseness" of the text: the West is nothing but an image to convey a message on the state of affairs in China.

Key Words: contemporary Chinese literature • plagiarism • Harry Potter fakes • The Hobbit • fantasy

China Information, Vol. 20, No. 2, 275-311 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0920203X06066502


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