Officials might consider counterfeit Chinese “translations” of copyrighted work illegal, but we like to think of them as the marketplace’s version of outsider art; it’s like fanfic and Lulu.com got together and opened up a bookstore in Shanghai. The New York Times teases its readers with awesome excerpts from a handful of recent Harry Potter knockoffs, with titles far better than the real ones:

• Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll
• Harry Potter and the Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon
• Harry Potter and the Chinese Overseas Students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Here’s a sample excerpt, which is short but so perfect that it’s almost a koan:

Harry doesn’t know how long it will take to wash the sticky cake off his face.

No word on when these will be made into movies, but maybe if Hollywood will step forward and do its part, then Turkish knock-offs can start appearing in market stalls everywhere.

Memo to the Dept. of Magical Copyright Enforcement [New York Times]

(Photo: lime*monkey)

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