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on the eve of the mid-autumn festival, the "hong kong high-end mooncakes" promoted and sold by "crazy xiao yang ge" in the live broadcast room were revealed to have no offline sales points in hong kong and were not produced in hong kong.

the brand name of this "hong kong high-end mooncake" is "meicheng mooncake", which is produced in guangdong and has a sales volume of more than 50 million yuan on the short video platform in the past 30 days. according to the product packaging displayed by netizens who bought "meicheng mooncake", the brand operator of meicheng mooncake is guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "meicheng food"), and there are two mooncake manufacturers of this brand, one is guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "guangzhou meicheng"), and the other is foshan meicheng food co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "foshan meicheng").

the manufacturer of "meicheng mooncake" has two picture sources: xiaoxiang morning news

on september 15, a reporter from the daily economic news visited guangzhou meicheng on site. in response to recent online public opinion, the person in charge of the company's human resources department showed the reporter the company's registered trademark in hong kong, and said that the company had registered its brand in hong kong in 2019, and was helpless to encounter such a situation. he said: "you mentioned (online doubts) about registering a company in hong kong and producing in the mainland. i think there is no law that stipulates that hong kong brands cannot be produced in the mainland."

“we are helpless too.”

guangzhou meicheng is registered in shiling town, huadu district, guangzhou. this is china's leather capital, with factories densely packed throughout the town. on gegang road in the town, the reporter found the company's factory. the main building is only a few stories high, and it forms a "c" shape with several auxiliary buildings. the sign "hong kong meicheng food" stands on the roof and can be seen from afar. there are also words "hong kong meicheng" and "meicheng·creating china's high-end fashion souvenirs" on the wall of the main building.

the signboard of "hong kong meicheng food" stands on the roof. image source: photo taken by wu zepeng, a reporter from china business network

the entire factory is not very large. when the reporter walked into the first floor of the main building, he saw some employees working. after explaining the purpose of the interview, the relevant person in charge of the human resources department of the above company received the reporter.

"we are not avoiding this issue, but we are calling on everyone to look at this issue rationally," the person in charge said in an exchange with reporters, "as a business, we can only say that we are helpless at the moment."

meicheng mooncakes have sparked controversy, mainly because of the contrast between the "hong kong high-end mooncakes" that were vigorously promoted in the live broadcast, but may not actually be sold in hong kong. according to a report by blue whale news on september 12, "crazy little yang ge" and his live broadcast room both sell mooncakes called hong kong meicheng brand, which are available in different styles such as 99 yuan for 3 boxes and 169 yuan for 3 boxes. after checking the largest online shopping platform in hong kong, it was found that this mooncake was not sold. many agents of the mooncake brand said that the company "has no stores in hong kong" and the production areas are basically guangzhou and foshan. according to a third-party data platform, the sales of this mooncake on the short video platform in the past 30 days have exceeded 50 million yuan.

the live video clips obtained by the reporter showed that the live broadcast did not mention whether the product was sold in hong kong, but emphasized information such as "hong kong high-end brand."

is meicheng mooncake a "hong kong brand"? the above-mentioned person in charge took out a stack of copies of relevant trademark registration certificates registered in the trademark registry of the intellectual property department of the hong kong special administrative region government, including "meicheng mooncake", "meicheng", "meicheng gift", "meisun", etc. the registration time of one of the trademarks is shown as october 9, 2019. "we have also gradually settled down to what we are today," he said.

the reporter noticed that the cultural wall inside guangzhou meicheng introduced the company's development history. it mentioned that in 2019, meicheng group was officially established in hong kong and created its three major brands; in 2020, the first production base covering an area of ​​10,000 square meters was established in the mainland, focusing on the research and development and production of high-end food; in 2023, two new factories in nanhai district, foshan city and conghua district, guangzhou city were completed and put into production, building a diversified industrial system. the meicheng intelligent manufacturing and high-end food r&d center project was officially launched.

meicheng mooncake development history image source: photo by wu zepeng, reporter of china business network

obviously, meicheng mooncakes, which have the identity of a "hong kong brand", are indeed produced in the mainland. the above-mentioned person in charge did not deny this, and he also said: "(online questioning) why do we register a company in hong kong and then produce in the mainland? i believe that there is no law that stipulates that i cannot produce in the mainland if i register a brand in hong kong, right? if you think there is something wrong with this, you can also cite some relevant laws and regulations."

is it sold in hong kong? no positive response

the reporter found out that the official website behind meicheng food is meicheng cake art. according to the official website, meicheng food was established in 2019. in addition to mooncakes, it also sells various gift cakes, chinese and western baked pastries, etc. in addition, the reporter found the sales information of meicheng mooncakes on the e-commerce platform, and its product details also introduced that meicheng cake art is affiliated to hong kong meicheng group.

however, one of the manufacturers, guangzhou meicheng, was established earlier, in april 2014. guangzhou meicheng is a high-tech enterprise. in january this year, it was included in the first batch of high-tech enterprises registered by the guangdong provincial certification agency in 2023. tianyancha information shows that li shuiqing and zhang shaodeng hold 58% and 42% of the shares of the company respectively.

so, are meicheng mooncakes sold in hong kong? the above-mentioned person in charge said that since he is not a salesperson, "i am not particularly clear about this aspect, and the specific information should be based on the information released by the online customer service."

on the afternoon of september 15, the reporter called the meicheng mooncake customer service number based on the introduction on meicheng food’s official website, but no one answered the call.

the customer service of meicheng mooncakes tmall store said that the meicheng brand is registered in hong kong and has a trademark registration certificate, and the brand genes and r&d team are all from hong kong. "in order to better expand market demand, meicheng has established marketing centers and production bases in guangzhou and foshan to strengthen supply chain management and enhance brand competitiveness." however, when asked twice by reporters whether the products are sold in hong kong, the brand's tmall customer service did not respond positively.

the screenshot of the live broadcast room of "crazy little brother yang" selling meicheng mooncakes shows that the four big characters "hong kong meicheng" are prominently printed on the front of the mooncake package. in the introduction to the brand and manufacturer on the back, the first thing displayed is the words "hong kong meicheng food group co., ltd.", followed by the brand operator meicheng food; there are two manufacturers, namely guangzhou meicheng and foshan meicheng.

screenshot of "crazy little yang" livestream selling meicheng mooncakes

liu kai, an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer at beijing zhongwen (changsha) law firm, said that trademark protection is territorial, and trademarks registered abroad do not have automatic legal effect in the country.

liu kai introduced that, for example, the meicheng mooncakes sold in the live broadcast room of "crazy little brother yang" use packaging and promotion to mislead consumers into believing that they are produced in hong kong, but their actual place of production is guangzhou or foshan, which may be suspected of false advertising and defrauding consumers.

according to reports, according to article 4 of the advertising law of the people's republic of china, advertisements shall not contain false or misleading content, and shall not deceive or mislead consumers. for those who violate the law and publish false advertisements, the market supervision and management department may order them to stop publishing advertisements, order the advertisers to eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope, impose corresponding fines, and even revoke their business licenses.

"at the same time, business operators should provide goods or services truthfully and comprehensively, and should not make misleading introductions about the source, performance, and use of goods or services. if businesses use the 'hong kong meicheng' label to mislead consumers, (making consumers) believe that the product is produced in hong kong, but in fact the place of production is guangzhou or foshan, it may constitute fraud." liu kai said.

according to jiupai news, chen zhen, a lawyer at henan zejin law firm, also expressed a similar view: if the origin of a product does not match the advertisement or the physical label, it may constitute fraud and consumers have the right to demand corresponding compensation. he also said that if the internet celebrities, as middlemen, bring goods suspected of being counterfeit or fake, or exaggerate false propaganda, they should also bear legal responsibility.

when live streaming sales meets mooncakes

in fact, every mid-autumn festival, various issues surrounding mooncakes always spark heated discussions. in the past two years, "excessive packaging" became the focus of discussion, and reporters found that meicheng mooncakes were also named at the time.

china news network reported in september 2022 that the market supervision department of nanjing city, jiangsu province found that a local supermarket sold "meicheng anna jinzun mooncake (1.68kg/box)" for 499 yuan. the nominal manufacturer was guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. this product did not meet the requirements that "operators selling boxed mooncakes shall not bundle other commodities in any form; nor shall they sell mooncakes mixed with other products in the form of gift boxes, etc."

in addition to the problem of excessive packaging, meicheng has also been punished for production problems.

in february this year, foshan meicheng was fined 55,000 yuan by the local government for producing food that was prohibited from production and sale. the specific basis for the penalty was article 124, paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of the food safety law of the people's republic of china. the provisions include that the products produced contain pathogenic microorganisms, food additives exceed the standard, and raw materials that have exceeded the shelf life are used.

industrial and commercial data shows that foshan meicheng was only established in february last year with a registered capital of 1 million yuan. its shareholders are zhang shaodeng and yu yongqi, who hold 70% and 30% of the shares respectively.

at noon on september 15, the reporter added the company's legal representative and shareholder yu yongqi on wechat and sent him interview questions, but no reply was received as of press time.

the reporter noticed that some consumers have raised doubts about the discussion triggered by meicheng mooncakes. for example, international car brands such as tesla and bmw also set up factories in china to produce and sell their products. is there any difference between this and some manufacturers that claim to be international brands but are actually mainland companies producing their products?

lawyer liu kai believes that the above-mentioned well-known automakers have extensive business layouts around the world, including actual activities such as production, sales, and r&d. they have substantial business presence abroad, and after entering the chinese market, they usually expand the market by setting up production bases or sales networks. the brand has consumer recognition and business operations around the world, and its mainland business is part of its global expansion.

"relatively speaking, many 'fake foreign brands' do not have actual overseas business, but only register companies or trademarks overseas to create the illusion of 'international brands'. almost all of their products are produced and sold in the mainland, and their overseas business presence may just be a shell company or a registered company with no actual operations. such brands raise product prices or gain consumer trust by packaging themselves as 'foreign brands'. this behavior actually carries a tendency towards false advertising and misleading consumers," said liu kai.