Dafen Painters

Here's a post my friend shared on google reader. Pretty interesting story about these replica painters in Dafen, Shenzhen, China. I used know a replica painter myself. When i was taking night classes at the academy, he used to hang around the classrooms painting replicas. he was probably a friend of the teachers, who never charged him for anything. I remember him having an extra little finger, and that he was painting this portrait of a southern woman sitting beside a stream. i remember him telling us about being paid 50 yuan a painting. not a big sum considering the amount of time he spent doing them. looking back now, i think he was probably a student trying to make some extra bucks to pay for the tuition.