ABSTRACT
Throughout Chinese history, IP issues have served state interests, tightening civil and criminal law as ways to protect social harmony. The content of creations and the integrity of orthodox materials were protected, not individual authorship itself. Although the invention of printing during the Tang era is viewed as a milestone in copyright, leading to a decree prohibiting unauthorized copies, the concept of intellectual property did not develop in Chinese law, formally or informally, as it is conceived in the West. The laissez-faire attitude toward law enforcement unfolded on the ground. The key factor that allowed such defiance at the level of everyday politics was the state decentralization that has been underway since the 1980s in the transition from socialism to the market economy, or the redistributive policy of the iron rice bowl to the job markets. Ideas on labor, intellectual property, and future of Chinese industry formed a discursive wall, which was crafted by alliances between entrepreneurs and local authorities.
