It's not a new observation. In the late 17th century a Spanish missionary called Domingo Navarrete noted the tendency in his memoirs.

"The Chinese are very ingenious at imitation," he wrote. "They have imitated to perfection whatsoever they have seen brought out of Europe. In the province of Canton they have counterfeited several things so exactly that they sell them in inland."

Some things, it seems, never change. Over the past two decades Chinese knock-off merchants have replicated everything from Western clothing brands, to DVDs of Hollywood movies to luxury handbags.