“Shanzhai” (山寨) is a word you’ll encounter a lot these days. It means “ersatz, but in a pathetic kind of way.” [Commenter Brendan, translator extraordinaire, offers the better translation "ghetto." Right on!]

If you can’t afford it, make it yourself. A lot of industrious Chinese people think this way.

In the middle of 1980s, Chinese families started assembling TV sets by themselves to save money. A decade later, Chinese parents DIY’ed countless PCs for their children, taking Deng Xiaoping’s dictum to heart “Kids should learn computer skills.”

Today, with Internet video sites, people from all over this country are showing off their incredible home-made things online. Here’s the latest example: a “shanzhai” Hummer.

For more on the meaning of “shanzhai”, please read the last paragraph of this list of Chinese internet slang by Adam Schokora from Edelman Digital: “off-brand / fake products manufactured in small, tucked-away shops in Chinese villages.”

But recently, people use “shanzhai” to describe some unbelievably stunning products made by ordinary Chinese people. When searching “shan zhai” on Youku, you will find many excellent home-made objects: a motorcycle, a tank, or even a helicopter!