On July 20, an American living in the Chinese city of Kunming published a post on her personal blog that would become an Internet sensation in a matter of hours: a series of photos documenting elaborate fake Apple stores she'd discovered. As the blogger wrote three days after the original post, "Reuters is claiming that the story has been been picked up by nearly 1,000 media outlets--and I can tell you that I have personally been contacted by every major news source in the U.S. and Europe, included the AP, AFP, CNN, BBC, ABC, NBC, and other similarly acronymed outfits." Reporters scrambled to speak with employees at the fake stores while furious customers demanded refunds. Chinese authorities even inspected around 300 shops in Kunming in response to the blog post, shuttering two ripoff Apple stores for not having official business permits (curiously, there was no mention of copyright violations).

Almost two weeks later, the craze over fake Western stores in China is still spreading, with reporters turning up more examples of blatant brand-copying. Analysts are parsing the larger meaning of the episode--highlighting everything from fundamental piracy problems to lessons for Apple to insights on the "power of design." In an article today on how Chinese counterfeiters are increasingly pirating entire Western retail outlets, Reuters points to the 11 Furniture store in Kunming, which aims to "hijack the Ikea experience."

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.