Alibaba has a fakes problem.

阿里巴巴有假貨問題。

On Wednesday, American trade officials said that they had added Taobao, the Alibaba Group’s sprawling online shopping bazaar in China, to their list of the world’s most notorious markets for counterfeit goods.

本周三，美國貿易官員表示，他們將阿里巴巴旗下的淘寶——中國一個龐大的在線購物市場——列入全球假貨泛濫最嚴重的惡名市場名單中。

The addition — an embarrassing setback four years after Alibaba successfully lobbied American officials to drop the platform from the list — comes as the owners of brands increasingly complain about the proliferation of fakes on the company’s sales platforms.

四年前，阿里巴巴成功地游說美國官員將其從這份名單中移除，隨著品牌擁有者越來越多地抱怨其銷售平臺上假貨泛濫，它再次被列入名單，這是一個令人尷尬的挫折。

It also comes as Alibaba moves to satisfy increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers who want higher quality goods — a shift that has also drawn intensifying competition from Alibaba’s rivals.

而且如今中國消費者正在變得日益精明老練，對產品質量提出了更高的要求，阿里巴巴開始迎合這種需要，而它的對手也在加大競爭力度。

Alibaba says it has increased efforts to find and eliminate counterfeit goods.

阿里巴巴表示，它已經做出了更大的努力來尋找和清除假貨。

In its report on Wednesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative acknowledged those efforts — but said they were not enough.

美國貿易代表辦公室(Office of the United States Trade Representative)在周三的報告中承認了這種努力——但表示這還不夠。

Taobao is an important concern due to the large volume of allegedly counterfeit and pirated goods available and the challenges right holders experience in removing and preventing illicit sales and offers of such goods, said the agency,

淘寶備受關注，因為那里可以買到大量假冒和盜版商品，權利持有人在清除、防止此類商品的非法銷售和提供上遇到了挑戰，該機構表示。

citing complaints from brand owners about the proliferation of fakes on Taobao.

他們提到了一些品牌的擁有者抱怨淘寶上假貨泛濫。

While recent steps set positive expectations for the future, it added, current levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy are unacceptably high.

雖然他們最近采取的一些做法讓人期待一個積極正面的未來，報告說，目前遭到舉報的假冒和盜版商品仍然多到令人無法接受。

Alibaba, which maintains that counterfeit goods are an industrywide problem, called the move counterproductive and questioned the motives behind the agency’s decision.

阿里巴巴堅稱假貨是一個行業性的問題，他們說此舉將適得其反，并質疑該機構做出這個決定背后的動機。

In a statement from Michael Evans, the president of Alibaba,

阿里巴巴總裁邁克爾?埃文斯(Michael Evans)在一份聲明中說，

the company said the decision leads us to question whether the U.S.T.R. acted based on the actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate —

該公司認為這個決定令我們質疑美國貿易代表是在根據實際情況行事，還是受到了當前政治氣候的影響——

an apparent reference to the negative language about China that Donald J. Trump espoused during the campaign and as president-elect.

顯然指的是唐納德?J?特朗普(Donald J. Trump)在競選期間和勝選之后提到中國時使用了消極措辭。

In an email to the group that oversees how Alibaba’s platforms are governed, Daniel Zhang, the company’s chief executive, pushed the group to continue fighting counterfeiters, whom he described as being like bacteria in the air that we breathe.

阿里巴巴首席執行官張勇(Daniel Zhang)向監督該公司平臺治理狀況的部門發了一封電郵，敦促他們繼續打擊假冒者，電郵稱假冒者像空氣里的細菌。

But he also compared the American move to trade protectionism and said Alibaba would face similar efforts elsewhere as it expanded abroad.

但他也把美國此舉和貿易保護主義聯系起來，表示阿里巴巴在進行海外擴張時，在其他國家也會面對類似的舉動。

It wouldn’t come as a surprise if we encounter other situations similar to that of ‘Notorious Markets’ in the future, where protectionism leads to malicious acts to players in the market,

他在電郵中寫道：將來用類似‘惡名市場’的事情，來自貿易保護的‘市場惡意’行為，可能還會發生，也許會越來越多。

he wrote in the email, which the company shared publicly.

這封電郵在公司內部公開傳閱。

The decision by the agency, which does not come with any official punishments, will have little practical impact on Alibaba’s main China operations.

沒有任何官方懲罰措施與該機構的決定一同發布，它對阿里巴巴在中國的主要業務也沒有實質影響。

The company is enjoying rising sales as Chinese consumers shrug off the country’s slowing economic growth and continue their online buying spree.

該公司的銷售額正在增長，中國消費者并未受到該國經濟增長放緩的影響，繼續在電商上大買特買。

In after-hours trading on Wednesday after the announcement, its shares fell less than 1 percent.

周三這個消息公布之后，阿里巴巴的股價在盤后交易中下跌不到1%。

But the listing could complicate the Chinese company’s ambitions to move into other markets.

但這件事可能會讓中國公司進入其他市場的努力變得更加復雜。

Alibaba has made forays into the United States, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, and it is moving into industries like entertainment that could take it further abroad.

阿里巴巴已經進入了美國、東南亞和其他地區，目前它正在進軍的娛樂業等行業，可能會讓它進一步走向海外。

The listing is also a blemish for a company that symbolized China’s rising sophistication when it held a landmark initial public offering of stock two years ago in the United States.

而且，兩年前阿里巴巴在美國進行了里程碑式的首次公開募股時，它成為了中國日益復雜老練的一個象征，對于這樣一家公司來說，此事也是個污點。

The listing represents a stumble in Alibaba’s lobbying efforts in the United States.

這次被列入名單，意味著阿里巴巴在美國開展游說的努力遇到了挫折。

Four years ago, American officials removed Taobao from the list, citing its efforts to fight fakes.

四年前，美國官員從這份列表中移除了淘寶，理由是淘寶在打擊假貨。

The move came after Alibaba tapped a former official from the trade representative’s office, James Mendenhall, to work on its behalf.

在那之前，阿里巴巴請來貿易代表辦公室的前官員詹姆斯?門登霍爾(James Mendenhall)為其奔走

Since 2024 it has spent $2.4 million lobbying the American government, according to lobbying data compiled by Opensecrets.org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics.

響應性政治中心(Center for Responsive Politics)旗下網站Opensecrets.org編制的游說數據顯示，自2024年以來，阿里巴巴游說美國政府的花費達到了240萬美元。

In recent years Alibaba has de-emphasized Taobao,

近年來，阿里巴巴不再把淘寶作為一個重點。

a vast platform where sellers big and small can set up online stores, resembling eBay.

淘寶是個龐大的平臺，有點類似于eBay，大大小小的賣家都可以在該平臺上開網店。

Analysts say its growth prospects are limited, and a growing number of Chinese consumers say they want to buy from sources they can better trust.

分析師認為其增長前景有限，而越來越多的中國消費者也表示他們想從更加可信的渠道購買商品。

The problem is that anybody can open a Taobao shop and sell anything, said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group.

問題在于任何人都可以開淘寶店，賣任何東西，中國市場研究(China Market Research Group)的創始人兼董事總經理雷小山(Shaun Rein)說。

Yu Yang, a 36-year-old information technology engineer in Beijing, said he started using Taobao more than a decade ago.

北京36歲的信息技術工程師于洋說他十多年前就開始用淘寶了。

But I almost stopped completely about three or four years ago, he said,

但三四年前，我幾乎完全不用了，他說。

adding that it had become difficult to tell fake from real basketball sneakers, which he collects.

收藏籃球鞋的他接著表示，球鞋的真假很難區分。

Fakes are getting more and more real, said Mr Yu,

假貨變得越來越真，他說。

who said he had switched to shopping on JD.com and also buys more when he travels to South Korea or Japan.

于洋稱自己轉向了京東，也會在去韓國或日本時多買一些。

Unless you compare a fake with an authentic, it would be almost impossible to tell.

除非把真貨和假貨拿在一起對比，否則幾乎分辨不出來。

Alibaba said its core Chinese retail business had 439 million annual active users during the year that ended in September, though it does not break out how many of them are Taobao users.

阿里巴巴稱在9月份結束的年度里，其核心的中國零售業務年活躍用戶達4.39億，但它未透露其中有多少是淘寶用戶。

That business makes its money by charging fees to, and providing advertising for, vendors.

這項業務通過向商家收費和為其提供廣告賺錢。

Alibaba has tried to steer business to its Tmall platform, which is geared toward larger sellers of higher-end name brands like Nike and Estée Lauder

阿里巴巴試圖將業務引向自己的天貓平臺，后者面向的是耐克(Nike)和雅詩蘭黛(Estée Lauder)等規模更大的高端品牌賣家。

But that business faces intense competition from JD.com

但這項業務面臨來自京東和其他公司的激烈競爭。

and others that manage their own inventory and act more as curators for finicky customers.

這些公司自己管理倉儲，充當的角色更像是為挑剔的消費者提供服務的監督者。

Tmall is the dominant player in the business to consumer segment, as Tmall and its rivals are called, with a little more than half of the market, according to figures from the data firm iResearch.

天貓及其競爭對手所在的領域被稱作B2C（商家對消費者），數據公司艾瑞咨詢(iResearch)的數據顯示，天貓在該領域占據主導地位，市場份額略超一半。

But the data also shows that it has slowly lost market share to others.

但相關數據額也表明，天貓的市場份額正在慢慢流向競爭對手。

Last year, in a warning to Alibaba, the United States Trade Representative also mentioned Tmall as a source of complaints about fakes, though the platform was not mentioned in this year’s list.

去年，在對阿里巴巴的警告中，美國貿易代表也提到天貓是假貨投訴的源頭之一，不過該平臺沒有出現在今年的名單中。

Alibaba has also defended Tmall’s efforts to fight fakes.

阿里巴巴也為天貓的打假行動進行了辯護。

The American government’s move adds to mounting pressure on Alibaba to do something about fakes.

美國政府的舉動增加了阿里巴巴應對假貨的壓力。

Last year, the owner of the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent brands sued Alibaba in New York federal court, claiming that the company encouraged sales of fakes on its online platforms.

去年，古馳(Gucci)和圣羅蘭(Yves Saint Laurent)品牌的擁有者將阿里巴巴告上了紐約聯邦法院，聲稱該公司鼓勵在其在線平臺上售假。

In October an industry group, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and others openly called for Alibaba to be added to the government’s notorious markets list, saying its members saw little change despite the company’s efforts to fight fakes.

10月，行業機構美國服裝與鞋業協會(American Apparel and Footwear Association)和其他一些團體公開要求將阿里巴巴加入政府的惡名市場名單，稱盡管該公司采取了多項打假行動，但該協會的成員幾乎沒有看到變化。

In May, the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition backed away from a plan to give Alibaba membership in its ranks as part of a united effort to fight fakes, after other members objected and raised questions about financial ties between Alibaba and the group’s leadership.

5月，國際反假聯盟(International Anticounterfeiting Coalition)在其他成員反對并對阿里巴巴和該組織的領導層之間的經濟往來提出質疑后，放棄了讓阿里巴巴加入聯盟，這本來是一項聯合打假行動的一部分。

The group defended its leadership but said it had hired an outside firm to review its internal controls.

國際反假聯盟為自己的領導層進行了辯護，但表示已聘請一家外部公司對其內部管控措施進行審查。

Alibaba has a fakes problem.

阿里巴巴有假貨問題。

On Wednesday, American trade officials said that they had added Taobao, the Alibaba Group’s sprawling online shopping bazaar in China, to their list of the world’s most notorious markets for counterfeit goods.

本周三，美國貿易官員表示，他們將阿里巴巴旗下的淘寶——中國一個龐大的在線購物市場——列入全球假貨泛濫最嚴重的惡名市場名單中。

The addition — an embarrassing setback four years after Alibaba successfully lobbied American officials to drop the platform from the list — comes as the owners of brands increasingly complain about the proliferation of fakes on the company’s sales platforms.

四年前，阿里巴巴成功地游說美國官員將其從這份名單中移除，隨著品牌擁有者越來越多地抱怨其銷售平臺上假貨泛濫，它再次被列入名單，這是一個令人尷尬的挫折。

It also comes as Alibaba moves to satisfy increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers who want higher quality goods — a shift that has also drawn intensifying competition from Alibaba’s rivals.

而且如今中國消費者正在變得日益精明老練，對產品質量提出了更高的要求，阿里巴巴開始迎合這種需要，而它的對手也在加大競爭力度。

Alibaba says it has increased efforts to find and eliminate counterfeit goods.

阿里巴巴表示，它已經做出了更大的努力來尋找和清除假貨。

In its report on Wednesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative acknowledged those efforts — but said they were not enough.

美國貿易代表辦公室(Office of the United States Trade Representative)在周三的報告中承認了這種努力——但表示這還不夠。

Taobao is an important concern due to the large volume of allegedly counterfeit and pirated goods available and the challenges right holders experience in removing and preventing illicit sales and offers of such goods, said the agency,

淘寶備受關注，因為那里可以買到大量假冒和盜版商品，權利持有人在清除、防止此類商品的非法銷售和提供上遇到了挑戰，該機構表示。

citing complaints from brand owners about the proliferation of fakes on Taobao.

他們提到了一些品牌的擁有者抱怨淘寶上假貨泛濫。

While recent steps set positive expectations for the future, it added, current levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy are unacceptably high.

雖然他們最近采取的一些做法讓人期待一個積極正面的未來，報告說，目前遭到舉報的假冒和盜版商品仍然多到令人無法接受。

Alibaba, which maintains that counterfeit goods are an industrywide problem, called the move counterproductive and questioned the motives behind the agency’s decision.

阿里巴巴堅稱假貨是一個行業性的問題，他們說此舉將適得其反，并質疑該機構做出這個決定背后的動機。

In a statement from Michael Evans, the president of Alibaba,

阿里巴巴總裁邁克爾?埃文斯(Michael Evans)在一份聲明中說，

the company said the decision leads us to question whether the U.S.T.R. acted based on the actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate —

該公司認為這個決定令我們質疑美國貿易代表是在根據實際情況行事，還是受到了當前政治氣候的影響——

an apparent reference to the negative language about China that Donald J. Trump espoused during the campaign and as president-elect.

顯然指的是唐納德?J?特朗普(Donald J. Trump)在競選期間和勝選之后提到中國時使用了消極措辭。

In an email to the group that oversees how Alibaba’s platforms are governed, Daniel Zhang, the company’s chief executive, pushed the group to continue fighting counterfeiters, whom he described as being like bacteria in the air that we breathe.

阿里巴巴首席執行官張勇(Daniel Zhang)向監督該公司平臺治理狀況的部門發了一封電郵，敦促他們繼續打擊假冒者，電郵稱假冒者像空氣里的細菌。

But he also compared the American move to trade protectionism and said Alibaba would face similar efforts elsewhere as it expanded abroad.

但他也把美國此舉和貿易保護主義聯系起來，表示阿里巴巴在進行海外擴張時，在其他國家也會面對類似的舉動。

It wouldn’t come as a surprise if we encounter other situations similar to that of ‘Notorious Markets’ in the future, where protectionism leads to malicious acts to players in the market,

他在電郵中寫道：將來用類似‘惡名市場’的事情，來自貿易保護的‘市場惡意’行為，可能還會發生，也許會越來越多。

he wrote in the email, which the company shared publicly.

這封電郵在公司內部公開傳閱。

The decision by the agency, which does not come with any official punishments, will have little practical impact on Alibaba’s main China operations.

沒有任何官方懲罰措施與該機構的決定一同發布，它對阿里巴巴在中國的主要業務也沒有實質影響。

The company is enjoying rising sales as Chinese consumers shrug off the country’s slowing economic growth and continue their online buying spree.

該公司的銷售額正在增長，中國消費者并未受到該國經濟增長放緩的影響，繼續在電商上大買特買。

In after-hours trading on Wednesday after the announcement, its shares fell less than 1 percent.

周三這個消息公布之后，阿里巴巴的股價在盤后交易中下跌不到1%。

But the listing could complicate the Chinese company’s ambitions to move into other markets.

但這件事可能會讓中國公司進入其他市場的努力變得更加復雜。

Alibaba has made forays into the United States, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, and it is moving into industries like entertainment that could take it further abroad.

阿里巴巴已經進入了美國、東南亞和其他地區，目前它正在進軍的娛樂業等行業，可能會讓它進一步走向海外。

The listing is also a blemish for a company that symbolized China’s rising sophistication when it held a landmark initial public offering of stock two years ago in the United States.

而且，兩年前阿里巴巴在美國進行了里程碑式的首次公開募股時，它成為了中國日益復雜老練的一個象征，對于這樣一家公司來說，此事也是個污點。

The listing represents a stumble in Alibaba’s lobbying efforts in the United States.

這次被列入名單，意味著阿里巴巴在美國開展游說的努力遇到了挫折。

Four years ago, American officials removed Taobao from the list, citing its efforts to fight fakes.

四年前，美國官員從這份列表中移除了淘寶，理由是淘寶在打擊假貨。

The move came after Alibaba tapped a former official from the trade representative’s office, James Mendenhall, to work on its behalf.

在那之前，阿里巴巴請來貿易代表辦公室的前官員詹姆斯?門登霍爾(James Mendenhall)為其奔走

Since 2024 it has spent $2.4 million lobbying the American government, according to lobbying data compiled by Opensecrets.org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics.

響應性政治中心(Center for Responsive Politics)旗下網站Opensecrets.org編制的游說數據顯示，自2024年以來，阿里巴巴游說美國政府的花費達到了240萬美元。

In recent years Alibaba has de-emphasized Taobao,

近年來，阿里巴巴不再把淘寶作為一個重點。

a vast platform where sellers big and small can set up online stores, resembling eBay.

淘寶是個龐大的平臺，有點類似于eBay，大大小小的賣家都可以在該平臺上開網店。

Analysts say its growth prospects are limited, and a growing number of Chinese consumers say they want to buy from sources they can better trust.

分析師認為其增長前景有限，而越來越多的中國消費者也表示他們想從更加可信的渠道購買商品。

The problem is that anybody can open a Taobao shop and sell anything, said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group.

問題在于任何人都可以開淘寶店，賣任何東西，中國市場研究(China Market Research Group)的創始人兼董事總經理雷小山(Shaun Rein)說。

Yu Yang, a 36-year-old information technology engineer in Beijing, said he started using Taobao more than a decade ago.

北京36歲的信息技術工程師于洋說他十多年前就開始用淘寶了。

But I almost stopped completely about three or four years ago, he said,

但三四年前，我幾乎完全不用了，他說。

adding that it had become difficult to tell fake from real basketball sneakers, which he collects.

收藏籃球鞋的他接著表示，球鞋的真假很難區分。

Fakes are getting more and more real, said Mr Yu,

假貨變得越來越真，他說。

who said he had switched to shopping on JD.com and also buys more when he travels to South Korea or Japan.

于洋稱自己轉向了京東，也會在去韓國或日本時多買一些。

Unless you compare a fake with an authentic, it would be almost impossible to tell.

除非把真貨和假貨拿在一起對比，否則幾乎分辨不出來。

Alibaba said its core Chinese retail business had 439 million annual active users during the year that ended in September, though it does not break out how many of them are Taobao users.

阿里巴巴稱在9月份結束的年度里，其核心的中國零售業務年活躍用戶達4.39億，但它未透露其中有多少是淘寶用戶。

That business makes its money by charging fees to, and providing advertising for, vendors.

這項業務通過向商家收費和為其提供廣告賺錢。

Alibaba has tried to steer business to its Tmall platform, which is geared toward larger sellers of higher-end name brands like Nike and Estée Lauder

阿里巴巴試圖將業務引向自己的天貓平臺，后者面向的是耐克(Nike)和雅詩蘭黛(Estée Lauder)等規模更大的高端品牌賣家。

But that business faces intense competition from JD.com

但這項業務面臨來自京東和其他公司的激烈競爭。

and others that manage their own inventory and act more as curators for finicky customers.

這些公司自己管理倉儲，充當的角色更像是為挑剔的消費者提供服務的監督者。

Tmall is the dominant player in the business to consumer segment, as Tmall and its rivals are called, with a little more than half of the market, according to figures from the data firm iResearch.

天貓及其競爭對手所在的領域被稱作B2C（商家對消費者），數據公司艾瑞咨詢(iResearch)的數據顯示，天貓在該領域占據主導地位，市場份額略超一半。

But the data also shows that it has slowly lost market share to others.

但相關數據額也表明，天貓的市場份額正在慢慢流向競爭對手。

Last year, in a warning to Alibaba, the United States Trade Representative also mentioned Tmall as a source of complaints about fakes, though the platform was not mentioned in this year’s list.

去年，在對阿里巴巴的警告中，美國貿易代表也提到天貓是假貨投訴的源頭之一，不過該平臺沒有出現在今年的名單中。

Alibaba has also defended Tmall’s efforts to fight fakes.

阿里巴巴也為天貓的打假行動進行了辯護。

The American government’s move adds to mounting pressure on Alibaba to do something about fakes.

美國政府的舉動增加了阿里巴巴應對假貨的壓力。

Last year, the owner of the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent brands sued Alibaba in New York federal court, claiming that the company encouraged sales of fakes on its online platforms.

去年，古馳(Gucci)和圣羅蘭(Yves Saint Laurent)品牌的擁有者將阿里巴巴告上了紐約聯邦法院，聲稱該公司鼓勵在其在線平臺上售假。

In October an industry group, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and others openly called for Alibaba to be added to the government’s notorious markets list, saying its members saw little change despite the company’s efforts to fight fakes.

10月，行業機構美國服裝與鞋業協會(American Apparel and Footwear Association)和其他一些團體公開要求將阿里巴巴加入政府的惡名市場名單，稱盡管該公司采取了多項打假行動，但該協會的成員幾乎沒有看到變化。

In May, the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition backed away from a plan to give Alibaba membership in its ranks as part of a united effort to fight fakes, after other members objected and raised questions about financial ties between Alibaba and the group’s leadership.

5月，國際反假聯盟(International Anticounterfeiting Coalition)在其他成員反對并對阿里巴巴和該組織的領導層之間的經濟往來提出質疑后，放棄了讓阿里巴巴加入聯盟，這本來是一項聯合打假行動的一部分。

The group defended its leadership but said it had hired an outside firm to review its internal controls.

國際反假聯盟為自己的領導層進行了辯護，但表示已聘請一家外部公司對其內部管控措施進行審查。