Knockoff Apple stores in China (updated)

[Thanks to TCGirl]

Knockoff Apple stores in China, article.
I knew they shamelessly copy fine art and electronics, but whole Apple Stores? Holy Moley.
Be interesting to see if Apple can do anything. A friend of mine makes fine art bronze statues, and he's devastated to see rip-offs of his work in shoddy materials come from China at a third of the price. But of course he can't do anything about it. If Apple can't either, I doubt anybody can, and we just have to hope that this is a "phase" China is going through until the day they are proud enough to really want to sell their own original stuff. Might take a while, I haven't heard rumors of big waves of Chinese engineers and designers. But maybe "proud enough to want to sell only legit stuff" will be good enough.

Update:
TCGirl found this new article. The blog post has had influence.
The proliferation of the fake stores underlines the slow progress that China's government is making in countering a culture of a rampant piracy and widespread production of bogus goods that is a major irritant in relations with trading partners.

Indeed. I am sure it brings a lot of money to the country, so they are probably not trying all *that* hard.