Two of the five fakie Apple stores in Kunming, China, have been shut after a thorough investigation by the Chinese authorities, despite one of the employees claiming "there is no Chinese law that says I can't decorate my shop the way I want to decorate it."
Sorry to break it to you buddy (I know the world of counterfeit goods is a grey area in your land), but I'm sure Apple feels differently. The man behind three of the stores, Yu Cheng, isn't letting this little mishap set him back in his pursuit of giving the Chinese what they want, though. He's now applied to open an authorized Apple store, and is awaiting a verdict from Cupertino now.
Despite having a very strong reason to be pissed, Apple reportedly has not contacted the city's government on the matter—either they've got bigger fish to fry, or they're working on a Project of Mass Revenge instead.
Those three other Apple stores may not have received blessings from Cupertino, but they're allowed to operate as usual, because they actually have the correct business permits from the city government. It seems that in China, selling authentic Apple products in an inauthentic Apple store is actually legal, as long as you've sweet-talked the right government officials. [Bloomberg]
You can keep up with Kat Hannaford, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.