Rotten pickled vegetables found in instant noodles, men posing as female live-streamers to scam money, “sweet potato starch” made of cheap cassava, exploding electric bicycles...

Another year, another long list of scandals. Many more will be exposed during the annual “3.15 Gala,” a two-hour television show hosted by state-run China Central Television every March 15, World Consumer Rights Day. The show has become an annual social event (almost like the Spring Festival Gala) for viewers and netizens who revel in predicting which companies will be named and shamed, and then lambasting them for their shady practices.

Yet for all the attention this contemporary campaign garners, China’s history of fighting against (as well as producing) fake goods dates back thousands of years.

As early as in the Western Zhou dynasty (1046 – 771 BCE), the government had already begun to oversee the quality of goods. According to The Book of Rites (《礼记》), a Zhou dynasty text that set guidelines for appropriate behavior, “unripe grains and fruits,” ”trees that are not fully grown,” as well as "beasts, fish, and turtles that are not fully grown or properly cleaned” were not allowed to be sold.

In the Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE), the earliest law on fake goods appeared. Canon of Laws (《法经》), China’s earliest systematically written code of laws, regulated that anyone who sold fake medicine would be flogged, and if any death or injury was caused by the counterfeit products, the seller would be exiled.

Penalties became even harsher in the Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BCE). People who sold fake medicines could face punishments ranging from tattooing the face with black ink, cutting off the nose, cutting off a foot or toes, castration, and even decapitation.

In the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220), as the economy developed and the Silk Road promoted trade, fake goods became more common. Laws proliferated too: regulations stated that rotten food shouldn’t be sold in the market, once found, it should be burned, and if it caused any poisoning, both the offender and government official in charge should be punished.

However, because of the huge profits involved, strict laws didn’t stop people from taking their chances. During the reign of Emperor Wen, a major forgery case even deceived the emperor. According to Records of the Grand Historian (《史记》), official Xinyuan Ping (新垣平) was adept at counterfeiting. Once he faked a jade cup with an inscription on it reading: “Long live the emperor,” and ordered his subordinates to offer it to the emperor, claiming it was found in Fenyin (in today’s Shanxi province). Then, Xinyuan said to the emperor that it indicated the lost Zhou-dynasty ding would be found in Fenyin.

The ding was a huge three-legged bronze cooking vessel, which was believed to be cast on the orders of legendary king Yu the Great. It then became an important symbol of imperial power, so obtaining the ding had a symbolic significance to the emperor. Believing Xinyuan’s words, the emperor ordered for temples to be built in Fenyin for worshipping the gods. Before too long, a ding was found as predicted. As you may have guessed, it was actually a fake buried previously by Xinyuan. The truth, however, was also unearthed in due time, and Xinyuan, together with his parents, brothers, wife, and children, was executed.

In the Jin dynasty, a government official named Mei Ze (梅赜) offered a volume of the Old Script to the court, claiming it was the version that Kong Anguo had found. he government accepted the story, and the volume circulated widely. In the following dynasties, the book was viewed as one of the most important classics for scholars to read. However, from the Song dynasty (960 – 1279), people began to suspect that this “Old Script” was fake, because compared with the Modern Script, it seemed much easier to comprehend. Many scholars then began to investigate its authenticity. In the Qing dynasty (1616 – 1911), scholar Yan Ruoqu (阎若璩) collected over 100 pieces of evidence, proving that the widespread version“Old Script” was actually fabricated.

In the Qing dynasty, even government officials had become victims. Anecdotes in the Qing Dynasty (《清代野记》), an unofficial historical text believed to be created by Zhang Zuyi (张祖翼), recorded a swindler nicknamed “Cha Fei Tian (插飞天).” He and dozens of his followers roved all over the country, impersonating high-ranking officials to extort money from local officials.

The battle against counterfeiting seems to be an eternal and even futile struggle. Indeed, as an old saying goes: “when the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten.” But at least we can take solace in the fact that as the “3.15 Gala” approaches, another batch of unscrupulous marketers will pay the price.