China is no stranger to knockoff goods. Over the years, the country has taken the proverbial expression "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" to the next level, churning out scores of shanzhai, or counterfeit¹, items, including everything from fake Apple iPhones to Harry² Potter books to Rolls-Royces and French luxury wines.

仿冒在中国不是什么稀奇事。多年来大量生产山寨货的中国，已经将"模仿是最真诚的恭维"这句谚语提升到新的层次。山寨的产品从苹果的iPhone、哈利波特系列图书到劳斯莱斯汽车和法国高级葡萄酒，无所不包。

But many Chinese are expressing outrage³ over one of the country's newest films, an animated⁴ children's movie that came out in theaters nationwide on Friday called "The Autobots," which many say bears a more-than-uncanny resemblance to Disney-Pixar's hit franchise⁵ "Cars."

但周五在国内新上映的儿童动画《汽车人总动员》引发群情激愤。许多人说这部片子与迪士尼-皮克斯(Disney-Pixar)的《赛车总动员》(Cars)有着异乎寻常的相似。

Indeed, based on the many comments online, it is clear that many Chinese are not buying the flattery argument.

的确，从网上的留言看，许多中国人对于这种"恭维"并不买帐。

"I know of the movie ‘Cars,' but I have never seen it," Zhuo Jianrong, director of the movie Autobots.

"我知道《赛车总动员》这部电影，但我从没看过。"《汽车人总动员》导演卓建荣表示。

"This is the first time I've rated a film I didn't see based solely⁶ by its poster, thank you very much," wrote a user named Lancelot, one of more than 3,000 who gave the movie a one-star rating on the social networking website Douban.

豆瓣网上有三千多人给了这部片一星评价，其中一位用户"兰斯洛特"留言表示："没看过，这是我第一次光凭藉海报就来打分，不谢。"

Since "The Autobots" hit theaters, users have been circulating a side-by-side comparison of the posters for it and the 2011 sequel "Cars 2." The similarities between the two posters are obvious, from the titles of the two films to the layout of the posters, down to the rendering⁷ of the "lead" cars that have the same blue eyes, goofy smiles and red paint job.

汽车人总动员》上映后，网上流传一张图片，比较该片与2011年《赛车总动员2》的海报。两张海报不论是标题，或是领头汽车的蓝眼、傻笑与红色喷漆，都有明显相似的地方。

The comparison was so obvious, in fact, that some Chinese said online that they were under the mistaken impression that the original Pixar film was getting a rerelease in Chinese theaters.

两张海报如此神似，让有些中国人在网上说他们误以为皮克斯的原作要再次于国内上映。

"I thought the original ‘Cars' was being rereleased on the mainland," wrote a user who goes by the handle Dianying Fan.

"我还以为《赛车总动员》在大陆重映了呢，"微博用户"电影贩"写道。

That user, like many others, called out "The Autobots" poster for using an image of a tire to block one of the Chinese characters in the title, making the original title, "Qiche Ren Zongdongyuan," appear to be "Qiche Zongdongyuan" ― which also happens to be the exact title used for the Disney-Pixar films.

这位用户也像许多人一样，发现《汽车人总动员》的海报用个轮胎挡住"人"字，会让人将片名误认为是皮克斯的《赛车总动员》。

"If you're going to copy the original film, can you at least do it well?" the user asked.

"抄袭是不能好好抄吗？"这名用户写道。

Reached by telephone, Zhuo Jianrong, the director of "The Autobots" and the chief executive of the film's production company, Blue MTV, said that he had not seen the original Pixar film but that he believed the negative publicity⁸ would benefit future sequels of Disney-Pixar's "Cars" franchise in China.

汽车人总动员》的导演卓建荣接受了电话访问，身兼制片公司"蓝火焰影视动漫有限公司"首席执行官的他说，他没有看过皮克斯的原作，但他认为迪士尼-皮克斯工作室的《赛车总动员》续集会因这次的负面宣传获得好处。

"Many Chinese already have a fixed⁹ attachment¹⁰ to Disney's characters," Mr. Zhuo said. "We hadn't anticipated this."

"许多中国人已经对迪士尼角色有先入为主的印象，"卓建荣说。"我们没料到这点。"

The Walt Disney Company, which owns Pixar Animation¹¹ Studios, released a statement saying, "We share the same concerns as many netizens and movie fans in China, but have no further comment at this stage."

拥有皮克斯动画工作室的迪士尼公司(Walt Disney Company)则发表声明称："我们与许多中国网民与影迷同样关注此事，但现阶段我们不作进一步评论。"

According to Mr. Zhuo, the production company had earlier received a letter from Disney regarding the issue.

卓建荣说，制片公司曾经收到迪士尼公司关切此事的信件。

Mr. Zhuo said the company sent back a letter to Disney that said, "Our animated characters are all copyrighted in China, and we are operating within our legal parameters¹²."

卓建荣说公司回信表示："我们的动画角色持有中国版权，公司也是合法营运。"

But despite China's reputation for shanzhai, some Chinese say that piggybacking on the publicity of big studio films is not just a Chinese phenomenon¹³.

然而即便中国因山寨恶名昭彰，有些中国人说在中国以外，也有搭大制片厂电影顺风车的投机现象。

"To be honest, making coattail-riding counterfeits¹⁴ is not just a specialty¹⁵ of the Chinese film industry," wrote the Chinese blogger. "The United States has also made a lot of crappy counterfeit films."

"其实这种打擦边球坐顺风车的山寨也不算是中国电影的专利，"中国博客写道。"美国也有很多这样的山寨烂片。"

Some of the examples he cited included American "mockbusters" like "Atlantic Rim¹⁶," a low-budget version of the 2013 science fiction film "Pacific Rim" and "Transmorphers," inspired by the director Michael Bay's "Transformers."

他举出几个"模仿大片"为例。像是模仿2013年科幻电影《环太平洋》(Pacific Rim)的低预算版《环大西洋》(Atlantic Rim)，以及以迈克尔·贝(Michael Bay)的《变形金刚》(Transformers)为灵感的《变形机体》(Transmorphers)。

Despite recent government efforts to promote the domestic animation industry, Chinese animated films have found only limited success at the box office. "The Autobots," budgeted at 10 million renminbi (about $1.6 million), is struggling, pulling in only about 3.87 million renminbi since its release last week, according to ChinaBoxOffice.

近年中国政府戮力提升国内动画产业，但中国动画电影的票房成绩依然乏善可陈。根据中国电影票房数据中心的资料，《汽车人总动员》耗资一千万人民币，但从上周发片以来，只有387万人民币的票房。

"The Autobots" tells the story of a young engineering genius who creates three cars with an artificial intelligence system that allows driver and car to interact.

汽车人总动员》的故事讲述一位年轻工程天才，制造了三台携有人工智慧系统的汽车，让车和驾驶员可以沟通。

"The film aims to teach children how to think creatively and overcome difficulties," Mr. Zhuo said.

"这部电影用意在教育孩子如何创新思考，克服困难，"卓建荣表示。