Smash that fake! China fights piracy on TV

By Kitty Bu

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - China's latest frontline in its war against piracy is your TV.

"Collecting Everything Under Heaven" is China's latest hit television show where participants bring in their porcelain and antiques to be authenticated by experts.

Only real ones survive. Fakes are smashed to pieces right there and then.

Audiences also take part in evaluating the antiques. Host Wang Gang, one of China's most famous actors, walks around with the hammer.

Wang is a collector himself. He said he wasted huge amounts of money buying fakes before learning a lesson.

"We must eliminate the false and retain the true. I want to shock people with a smash. After it, people start to think," he told Reuters.

"Fake will always be fake. Fake should never be sold as real. People shouldn't be making money off of selling fakes."

Three collectors from different parts of China gather on the 90 minutes program to show off their collected items, ranging from vases to plates which they either bought or were gifted.