Made in China: the cultural logic of OEMs and the manufacture of low-cost technology
Kelly HU

ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the conditions of the manufacture of low-cost technology in China with the examples of ‘pirated’ VCD players, ‘no-name’ DVD players, and Shenzhen’s development as a techno-urban city. It emphasizes the significance of the cultural logic of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and argues that the various transformations and deflections that are derived from ubiquitous OEM experiences have gone beyond the original model of an authorized OEM, experiences that are to some extent embodied in the transgression of brand name and patent hegemonies, which are mainly controlled by high technology companies. OEMs have been associated with China’s current imperative and uninhibited development of low-cost technology capitalism. ‘Made in China’ signifies the production of any product, legal or illegal, for transnational high technology giants or domestic technology manufacturers. Learning to ‘become an OEM’ in China has partly resulted in excessive technological mimesis that may be part of an unauthorized, underground economy that is based on low-cost technology. Based on the Shenzhen experience, part of this study will show industrial production-oriented OEM cultures in which illegal operations and counterfeit trade are incorporated, even in city projects that are shared by municipal governments and Chinese technological companies, and undergo spatial restructuring in the development of the economy, consumerism, and urbanism.

KEYWORDS: Made in China, OEM, low-cost technology, brand, brand-sticking, assembly, patent, high-tech empire, technological mimesis??

Author’s biography
Kelly Hu is currently associate professor at the Department of Communication & Institute of Telecommunications, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. Her publications in recent years include a journal article ‘The power of circulation: digital technologies and the online Chinese fans of Japanese TV drama’ (Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 6(2): 2005), and a book chapter ‘Discovering Japanese TV drama through Chinese eyes: narrative reflexivity, implicit therapy, and the question of the social imaginary’ (Media Consumption and Everyday Life in Asia, Routledge, forthcoming.)
Her latest research interests include China BT (BitTorrent) Forums and Japanese reality TV formats/narratives.

Contact address: Department of Communication & Graduate Institute of Telecommunications, National Chung Cheng University, 168, University Road, Min-Hsiung, Chia-Yi 62102, Taiwan.