China: Faking It | 101 East
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- China is one of the world’s largest auction markets, generating billions of dollars each year. its ultra-wealthy are cashing into the world of quick returns.
But not everyone's a winner.
The insatiable appetite for ancient ceramics is feeding a dark underbelly. More than ever before, counterfeits are flooding in, fooling even the best experts.
From the rolling hills of China's last archaeological site, to the kilns of forgery masters the private museums of the country's super rich, explores the world of Chinese antiques asks, will human greed destroy this centuries old history?
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It kinda just goes to show that nothing actually holds any REAL value, it's all just stuff that people are told they should believe is worth a lot of money. If the same thing can be replicated and sold for $5 , and people are unable to TELL that it's a fake, well, it and the original are worthless .
Yeah just like the world's leaders and politicians 😅
bitcoin is the way
hard to say, they ARE making high quality ceramics with amazing and painstaking labor--sucks they have to sell them as 'authentic' when they are already a high quality product.
exactly my thought.
They don't have to. They just make more money spending a year making one ceramic piece that is a counterfeit and sells at auction than they would selling handmade copies of old ceramics. They just want to make more money. That whole village makes a living from ceramics, you obviously don't have to make forgeries.
That’s what I was thinking the whole time.
They are authentic CCP era!
a real antique will contain toxic and radioactive. will lead you to death faster.
It's the social clout they're buying, not the formalisic beauty of the object itself.
(Which speaks to other current trends in their society.)
Rich Chinese buying Chinese Fakes , Poetic justice
Chinese society is a fake society
20:30 Fake antiques sold in US. Aahahhhahahaha!!!!!!!!1
Jackie Chan is hilarious !!!
Sure when you make very nice things one day it will make very nice history to !!!
a lot of these auctions are for money laundering. So no money was lost
What the people who are making the fake don't realise, is there is most likely a market for the replicas. They could easily make millions selling them on an open and honest market. Not only gaining wealth but also prestige for their skills and talents.
+Daniel Lee Butler also, chinese clothing industry, global giant, fakes and branded both, but can you name one genuine chinese brand? they are doing it wrong...
***** Even thieving has it's art form,
garrett chan I think China would be an awesome place. There seems to be a growing hatred for foreigners.
That's because they make more by selling them as fakes.
Chinese society is a fake society
I have no pity for the ones getting ripped off . They are rich and they are getting a taste of what its like to be poor. Pay a million for a bowl ?? Even if I was wealthy I don't think I would buy this stuff . All you can do is look at it behind glass. Greed is the downfall of many.
+Wisdom King yup, indo banged and wisdom king surely know their motivations and intentions.
ideally, the state should own all these antiquities/properties, rather than allowing private hands to collect them for a sense of historical pride and identity.
"a taste of what its like to be poor", lol; i guess you must have ignored the presenter when he continuously highlighted the "nouveau-riche" aspect of the market.
I think people like you who believe the rich really buys a $15million vase does not know it may be fake, are the real foolish ones. All they needed was a vessel to launder their cash... Who cares if its real or fake. A vase is just a vessel, so is a painting. They arent foolish. Foolish people would not have amassed that kind of wealth with $1 million to splurge on a bowl they arent going to use.
I find it disturbing that someone would sell a cup for $1 million.
pixpusha I find it disturbing that someone would buy a cup for 1 million
disturbing is the wrong word my friend,more like disgusting .
Word!
@@SW-ii5gg they live in bubble ...
hahaaaa !!!, your definitely right .
The sellers know it's fake, the buyers know it's fake.
Everybody happy.
allgoo19 now that make a bustling market.
Sing a happy happy happy song. :D
Ah, to be so rich as to not know what to do with your money!
it'd such s shame these are seen as invaluable for being copies when the artistry behind then is so masterful and valuable
the british collects the original they stole during the opium war
invaluable doesn't mean what you think it does by the context you used it in that sentence. You essentially said it is a shame that the copies are really useful / valuabe for being copies.
@@missanna208802 Maybe OP meant they could be valuable in their own right and not as forgeries (if we add a 'not' before 'seen as invaluable' in his comment). Maybe the OP thought invaluable was the opposite of valuable? 🤔
@@directorlunchie2322 a bit like the intellectual property the Chinese are stealing now
A typical "the richest 1%" problem.
so you get this "fake bowl" and the "real bowls" are the ones that are worth a significant amount? At the end of the day they're all bowls used for the same thing. Just like people spending a crazy amount of money just for a brand so they can look "popular" or "cool" I'll stick to my cheap "knockoffs" that achieve the exact same purpose thanks.
Sad you need to look "popular" or "cool".
Pastrami Salami they don't buy it for their use, they buy it for the history that comes with it. 🤐
looking cool is the epitome of being a human being
You say cheap knockoffs like you have a choice lol.
Pastrami Salami rip culture
500 years from now those new fake copies will be antiques and would worth a fortune.:))
ItsMeKarl Scorpio Maybe, nowdays, some antiques are categories as ancient fakes, still have value
ha! So true. The irony of life.
In that sense, my underwear will be antique too, given it is in the pristine condition and clean. Real value comes from the history behind the object like Qing emperor's dinner plate, ornaments etc.
Lmao
Not anymore the material that they use to make that antique from 500 bc is defferent than the material they use today.
I think the real losers are actually the artists who get peanuts compared to the factory owners......
funny because3 compaired to my boss i earn peanuts too, i think everyone who works for a boss has this problem!...
From innovation to imitation. 😭
Stupid people will be stupid. Wealth does not equal intelligence, at least not the truly wealthy. When you see people who are truly "rich", more often then not they live modest lives and uses their excess wealth for the betterment of humanity.
Good luck trying to teach that to a society or ripping each other off.
true rich and wise people don't show off and lay low
garrett chan so you have something to say, Einstein?
Only to outsiders. Between them, it's a different story. Who wants to attract attention to their fortune nowadays. Not a smart move.
People get SO impressed with the rich. The are the scumbag of the world. But the reality is that nothing here is forever, and when the going gets tough, we all have the same end - become compost. Who knows what comes next? You may believe in anything you want. But nothing lasts forever.
Just because these masters weren't born 100-1000 years ago doesn't mean their work is any less impressive than someone few thousand years ago.
WOPPER thats true, but what theyre doing is still unethical bc theyre selling these fakes in a market of antiques. they could still make a solid profit off their work sold genuinely, but comparatively, theyd make less than if they sold them as antiques.
True, but they should use their skills as the basis for selling their products rather than imitation.
The problem lies when they try to pass them off as "antique" or even "ancient". Its not the quality most times, its the fact they aren't actually OLD.
@@jpn_119 If you can't tell how does it matter?
the original piece is a result of one's own creativity and not copied. Created through lack of resources and stood the test of time.
If you put a "Fake" in the ground for 200 years; it will also become "Antique". So how do you put a price on these stuffs is really up to you. It can be worth $200 million or just $2!
if a 'fake' piece made at late Qing（1900's） period as Ming （1500's）dynasty replica of a Tang（800ＡＤ）dynasty object，won't that be a more culturally valuble piece than the actual Tang piece？
really no because a-price is subjected b-whether its a Tangqing from last night or a couple of millenia its still natural mineral that's been carved.
it is really about the economics of the auctions... the grey market for these pieces increase tremendously when the noise of fake is made stronger... so it is a winning situation for the auction houses to claim everything is fake and they just have the real ones !!!
@@lenslifeindia ,
great piece of journalism....
thnx al-jazeera..
Being fooled doesn't mean your stupid, it Just mean you are a good person who expect people to treat you as how you treat them.
these items are still more valuable than "modern art" pieces.
I care more about the quality of the art. real, fake or history, not that important for an object. if a piece is very expensive, collectors decide, their money.
+capespring exactly. if it's well made, then it's art, old or new doesn't matter.
It does matter if it is "antique". If you just buy an object or art or workmanship then it doesn't matter but most people who collect "antiques" wants an "antique" not the objject or the art. A collector can be an object collector or an "antique" collector. Even something which is made badly and not artistic can worth millions if it is a real antique. So depend on what you buying/collecting. But antique collectors who buy antique shouldnt be cheated. The seller has to be honest what he is selling.
SimonUSA especially for something that expensive the onus is on the buyer to prevent himself from being cheated by unscrupulous seller. learn the science related to antiquity or find someone with that knowledge and pray that he will be trustworthy.
Sim位omissions th位e way the way you can getting a good time I AM I sorry in himself and families
If it is only art. But if it is part if the history, that matters.
I like how Mason is totally honest about what he knows and doesn't know. This is definitely poetic justice though haha
I think it is foolish to put so much value on breakable items. I will get bored looking at the same piece of work regularly. I get more joy looking at nature.
I'm shocked at how good that old man's English is for a Chinese man of his age.
Nicholas Markovich He has probably dealt with English speaking collectors or dealers from other countries all his time as a collector.
I find it very interesting how these auction houses REGULARLY "unearth" new antique piece of art year after year. I love how there is always some "lost art", "unseen before art", and "newly discovered art" of master painters auctioned off at these fancy auction houses. When they run out of expensive pieces they coincidently "unearth" a new one.
To be fair, with many of them it is because they actually do "unearth" whatever they are selling. Most of my experience is in firearms, but in art it is the same way, an old person will die, an old house will be renovated, and things will be found. With art what most often happens is that the deceased person didn't know what they had, or sometimes fantastical items will end up in flea markets like the one shown (as an example, the original American Declaration of Independence was rediscovered in a flea market).
What if they pick up and accidentally drop....How embarrassing.
Wow excellent reporting. Great work
Rich people: im going to be so smart with my money
Also rich people: *sees a simple cup in an auction* ill give u $2million+ to give me that so i can put it in my glass box
On a societal level that is a problem yeah, but on the individual, I bet many thought it would be overpriced at a few hundred thousand. But whoever had bought it then would have just made a pretty good profit.
As long as so much money/resources are tied up in it, for collectors it could very well be beneficial, but the economy and society as a whole loses out on what could be a large game changing amount of venture capital.
Yes, cause that is $2million laundered. Lol..
I don't understand how's benefit investing in antiques; unless you're billionaire & have easy big income;. I rather invest in gold, real estate & land/ private island. who agree with me or do I have the thinking of the poor? I don't get it
I am not sure they are thinking of investing when buying them.You really have mind of poor you just think to increase money but rich also like to spend money and art is one of proud works of spending money.
Agree. Invest in gold. China invest in jade. Jade can be fake.
China and Russia are stocking up on gold for quite some time now. The expensive art is a way of moving money outside China. If caught say bye bye to your wealth
i will choose those cheap art made by chinese its also beautiful.$1 am happy to display them
Even the Chinese are suffering from Chinese copies... nice!!!!
As Mr. Tseng said, as soon as these ceramics are created, they become pieces of art in their own rites. So I mean, is it that bad that I would actually pay good money to get one of these, knowing it was a fake? Because they're all so beautiful!
Why do I find it cute when the old antiques expert, Mason, converses in English with Steve.
I never realised wooden cloths pegs or coat hangers broke or failed untill china started supplying them.
chinese ppl are seriously talented
Andy Zheng Yes, in the same way the xerox machine in my office.
Andy Zheng I'll cheers to that.
Wrong, all people are talented... but most are lazy.
paper was not an invention of chinese people, it was Central Asian Turkic Uyghur people who produced paper for the first time.
Talented in faking everything lol
6:37 He's completely right about it.
Makes me wonder if any fakes are found in museums as well...
The guys at the end are not forgers, they are artists, they deserve whatever compensation they can get.
only if they don't claim that their piece of mud was in the imperial court
indiscernible forgery brings to question the concept of value.
$1,000,000 for a little useless Chinese cup! Keep it for yourself. LOL.
The rich collectors are obviously have a deep interest in Chinese art and antiques. Instead of fighting against forgers (poor talented artists who make copies as means of survival), they should be collaborating, developing schemes to help fund these forgers to develop their own modern original creations and brand, and help them to market it in China and overseas.
Matilda's Dad was right: "There's a sucker born every minute, and we're going to take 'em for all they've got" lol
What a fascinatingly interesting and talented gentleman Mason is! What I wouldn't do to spend years learning from him
sometimes, the difference between fake and real is the authorization of authenticity. the process, effort, and quality of making it is on par with the real thing. The only part that is missing is fame. Fame is not a tangible value, it is a hype that inflates things. Therefore, in my opinion, replicas or fake goods is the justice for those overpriced famous goods!
Those forgers are masters in their own right, if only they got to making their own original masterpiece, im sure they would be beautiful!!
Why pay so much for some old stuff? All these artifacts should remain the property of the Chinese government. The art market is a waste of resources. Engage in actual sustainable production, create employment and improve people's lives!
you can't tell people how to spend their money....
JAchica11 like for example build museums and give people jobs (and also when government owns the museums and the things in there, the public can see it)
totally agree, I feel like a country's history and artifacts belongs to the country as a whole. People don't need this stuff in their houses, put them in museums for everyone to enjoy.
Exactly this things should be owned buy the public not some rich snobs
All of these rich people buying artworks for say $150 million, in 10 years time the valuation will double to $300 million. Money just goes to money all of the time, without any trickle down happening whatsoever. I really couldn't give 2 shits if these people get ripped off. Material things are just not important me personally, eveyone kicks the bucket some day anyway.
(Question) So what happens like in that workshop town they are still making vases that are continued from the tradition of the family that looks just like old ones does that count as fakes? or is it only when they claim to be old vases but are actually new bc in let's say 300 years wouldn't those fakes also be considered antiques?
While people are starving and you guys make this out to be a good thing.
i agree! this is freaking ridiculous
dog
Turtles
+Ape Hog what wrong with spending the money you hard earned ?
Actually, China's poverty rate is only 20% and is going down, while America's poverty rate is 16%, and is going up. There not being selfish, their enjoying their money. Is that wrong? To enjoy the money you worked hard for?
Seriously - I don't get art collectors. Why spending so much money for stuff that you can only watch?
They re-sell it. Perhaps art is one of few things that increases in value over time. That's just fake way of showing that they like art but instead they are actually investing in it.
they can only gain value as long as the condition is kept well.. things you can actually use tend to get worn and lose value.
Eltern10 there is no captial gain tax on reselling antiques.
if you earned £1 mil from the stock market, you pay captial income tax.
if you earned £1 mil from reselling an antique, there is no antique income tax.
Thx, wasn't aware of that. But if I get myself a rare ferrari (like a laferrari) an resell it after 2 years with a nce profit, Ihave to pay tax for that. So that doesn't make sense to me....
Eltern10 What kind of tax? That depends on where you resides. If you are in UK, selling your car does not incur tax unless the purpose of the sale was for generating income or as part of a gift or part of the inheritance tax calculation.
Otherwise, a normal disposal of a car do not generate tax.
It's called money laundering
i thought exactly the same
This is when you start to realize how difficult it is to be original. It is hard to copy someone who has a very specific style in any thing, just because they are so determined to be original. Bring original is hard!
The amount of ads is frustrating
Chinese people are involved with fakes??? What a big shock!!!
it takes either ridiculously rich or brave to buy Chinese art. Good luck distinguishing the fake from the real
easy, did it come from china? its fake.
garrett chan well seeing as so much art was destroyed during the cultural revolution for the sake of "progress", it would make sense that a lot of what would be for sale is fake. Where else would it have come from?
The was awesome, Al Jazeera. Please keep up the good work in the years to come!
RUclips started to make me hate commercials
Al Jazeera, you should have blurred out the faces of those you intentionally didn't ask to film and anyone you didn't get express permission from to film and publish their faces/conversations. Cultures may be different, and the likelihood that someone would be able to find one of them is tiny, but you never know what could really end up hurting someone's life or livelihood.
3:30 made me laugh so bad.
---------------------------------------------------------
Here is the history:
Japan copied culture and Chinese Characters from China.
Whole world copied gunpowder, compass, papermaking, printing from China.
US copied steam machine from Europe.
Japan copied everything from US including democracy.
China copied many things from US.
These are called developing stage.
Mason Wang's accent is wonderful, I could listen to him talk all day.
Wow their alchemical skills for making forgeries is impressive.
good enough to fool the experts !!!
The "experts" are paid to certify fakes.
I´d rather go fishing .
+Par N I'm an artist, and to be honest I would rather go fishing too! It amazes me to see the level of dedication these people show,even for a fake piece of artifact.
+Hyun-woo Park Right on ! A good catch & a delicious fish dinner :P
They too are fishing...for rich clients, fake antiques is the bait
There is so much dishonesty and corruption in Chinese production, from food products to art and beyond. I wonder how it got so bad there.
"sometimes it's greed" And that's just the insight that Sotheby's pays Mr Zhou the big bucks.
haha, back the day, the world did''fake'' our gun power, paper, compass.,Printing tec, silk, china....
ancient china > modern china
I have a great idea for ALJAZEERA, "101 Middle East, Fake Virgins".
Bill Y. its been done... lol.
How about you go mind your business you Zionist pig
If getting a fake and wasting money is a concern to you then you should not even think about investing in antiques. A big part of the industry is what I call "Tuition fee" where newbies enters the hobby and get tricked into buying duplicates, over paying for a inferior piece and the like. What's really important is to remember one's mistake and learn on the way. Again, this hobby of antique collecting is vastly different from daily shopping. And trickery, frauds, scam, high quality duplicates, all that are just part of the hobby really. legality and morality are separate issues here.
Steve Chow is one credible reporter for Al Jazeera👍
chineese art is the most wonderful .. even the fake is high class art by it self to the point they shouldnt be called fake at all .for art is priceless .
The rich can get ripped off for whatever reason but the forgers should be more ethical when distributing; without tempering with real pieces for educational means and institutions - it is their history they risk messing with if they carelessly undertake these activities.
About as poor as you spelling.
If I were rich I'd better comission original works from those crafters, they make amazing stuff and their original jobs would be invaluable in the future.
6:02 that piece looks so nice
Just sit on the fakes for 500 years and it'll be worth a lot anyway.
Phlegethon hehe lmao
Yeah that’s not how it works. Value is driven by rarity, not by age (but a lot of people get this confused because most of the time rare objects are also old)
As an archaeologist, I will prefer a good fake to any original. I most cases, the latter has been acquired thru illegal excavations. This vandalism at archaological sites leads to an inretrievable loss of historical records.
thank you for this brave film. bravo!!!
"You if wanna survive the dreaded modern day hustle, you got to fake it till you make..."
Making fake look like real is a hard work. I'm also impressed.
Even though not authentic. The art is quite beautiful.
what's the point of buying the original if they can make a copy that's just as good?
bald dudes voice is so soothing.
I like how he says confidently, fakes will never hold up to scrutiny and then seconds later he says he bought fakes, lol. Bottom line, you don't know, ever.
Background music seems unnecessarily loud
You’re right
just because its a replica, doesnt make it worthless though. there is a huge market for people who adore those "worthless" carvings. one man's trash is another person's treasure. those carvings still take time and skill to carve and those artists/carvers make close to nothing despite that effort
The antique fake carvings looks great. I would buy it for the artistry
The craftsmen creating the fake ones seem very talented, it would be a lot better if they could maket their creations as a premium brand, than to sell as fakes and deceive buyers...
its so sad that these talented masters have to forge the works of the past masters because its more profitable than focusing on and creating their own original work.
I lost my mind, Chinese are unique people in the world
I do like Mason. As an aspiring art historian, I'd like to spend an afternoon with him. He seems like such a nice guy. :3
The auctioneers are making HUGE commissions, so if it "bothers them" to verify authenticity, tough! It's what they're supposed to be doing in the first place! Chinese people trying to regain their cultural history are to be commended, not ripped off.
If you bought it because it made you happy and you loved the art, then the price was worth it to you. If you bought it because you were buying it for the history, then your were harmed. If you bought it because you thought it would improve your status or you could resell it for more, later, then you're an idiot. I find it fascinating that artists put so much effort into perfectly faking an old piece. I wouldn't spend $300K+, but that red vase towards the end would easily be worth $10-30K regardless of provenance. For those who don't understand that price, consider how many hours are involved in making something like, (the artist said 10-200+ pieces made for each perfect replica) as well as the skill. Put a dollar to the number of hours worked and a 30% profit margin and you will see why something like that is worth $10K+.
Plastics can also be antiques if they’re buried for 100 years.
At the beginning, they are touching all the pottery and even touching without gloves and I'm thinking, "o.o why are they allowed to touch it? if it were that expensive and valuable, no one should be able to get their grimy hands on it or possibly damage it"
This is why I am extremely skeptical when buying art work at an auction.
Shame that the people buying them from them sell them off as originals. They are so nice just by themselves they should be sold as a replica.
I got kicked out for filming in that museum and being a foreigner. Now I see why
"No one else will know. Only you and I"
Yeah sure
Anthony Fantano is definitely the most busiest internet nerd!
Not gonna lie those porcelain artists don’t get the recognition for their art skill they deserve.
Thank
given enough time, all of these forgerys will become valued history to collectors of the future.
It's amazing how the Chinese can counterfeit anything. It's a pity their skills are wasted on forgeries and not on creating their own products.