「山寨」一詞在大多人眼中充滿貶義，和假冒手機、高仿手袋、抄襲侵權劃上等號。林達偏偏在五年前以它來命名自己的公司──「山寨城市」，說是當年「有點憤青」的自己反資本世界的宣言：「蘋果公司在美國推出一款新手機，深圳的華強北就會湧現一大批仿製品。這些所謂山寨手機其實是在照顧草根階層，讓他們也能享受上層人士在享受的便利，何罪之有？」

要了解「山寨城市」的業務，從其網站的主頁畫面就能看出端倪：頭戴草帽的女農民，手握智能電話，眼望遠方；身後是茂密的茶樹林，和一條剛架起的電纜線。簡言之，「山寨城市」從事的是以科技賦權偏遠地區的弱勢社群。

但是，要助農民脫貧的話，不是幫他們找投資人、再組織村民種茶樹就行了？為何還要教他們使用智能電話？

林達解釋道：「勸人扶貧並不是聲淚俱下跟投資方說村民多窮多可憐，企圖喚起愛心；無論是個人、銀行、基金會還是政府的投資方，都着眼實際回報。他們希望看到一連串數字──每投放一元，村民會工作二百個小時，產出一千棵樹，令貧困問題解決了0.2%。而這些數據的採集，需要農民學習資訊科技後，自行輸入數字和填寫問卷，最終量化為投資成效。」

他形容自己的角色是搭建「貧窮」和「資本」之間的橋樑。「儘管我不認同任何事物都可量化，但想要接軌金融世界，就必須以數字說話。」

「山寨城市」有八成以上時間穿梭於全球各地的村落，向中國內地、緬甸、老撾、泰國、巴布亞新幾內亞、巴西等地的草根社群，提供三類培訓。

第一類是傳授實際技能，例如種樹的最有效方法與工具。第二類是喚起村民對個人資料私隱的意識，因為「私隱意識愈高，提供數據的質量也愈高。」第三類是教導他們認知何為「價值」。「並不是誰手上的鈔票最多就擁有最多的價值。鈔票只是一堆紙張。只有各人的貨物獲得充分的流轉和交易，才會產生真正的價值，形成互助互利的社群。」

2018年底，「山寨城市」將第三類培訓推上更高層次，把連在城市也尚未普及的區塊鏈技術應用到農村，推行「合作社金融」。

區塊鏈是種加密技術，可以把它想像成一本超級電子記賬本。任何交易一經記錄在內，不容篡改；而且任何參與者都能查看交易詳情，便於監督和核實。因此區塊鏈能實現安全可靠的點對點交易，無需設立監管交易的中間人如銀行或政府等。

林達舉例說明「合作社金融」的運作：張三從事米酒生意。他宣布即將預售米酒，承諾釀酒用的米將來自李四家，酒糟來自王五家，水來自趙六的井。有意購買米酒的顧客匯款至區塊鏈裏一個臨時賬戶，獲得一個「米酒代幣」。於是張三開始購買釀酒材料，當中每筆交易的數據一一反映在區塊鏈上。酒釀好了，顧客在區塊鏈上驗明所有細節屬實後，米酒代幣轉入張三賬戶，酒送到顧客府上。

「這就形成一個去中心化、互相監督的農產品預售體系，一個合作社大聯盟。」林達總結道。

他續說，透過區塊鏈技術促進農村內部的貨品和服務流通，才能真正助其脫貧。「我總是跟人說，海南是全中國最窮的省之一，沒人信──看看那裏豪華酒店林立，怎麼可能窮？但事實上，當地人月薪只有兩三千。真正賺錢的是大酒店，而大酒店的銀行賬戶設在外國。旅遊業促進的只是外地人去到當地讓外地人賺錢。酒店圍牆以外就是貧民窟。」

許多人都猜不到，林達是唸建築出身的。他來自北京，小學移民香港，後來以拔尖生身分升讀中大建築系。他說自己對怎樣設計一座建築並不感興趣，反而對建築與城市的關係入迷至深。所以畢業後一直為世界各地的城市與農村謀求最優化的發展模式。

他曾經一個月內環繞地球兩圈，三百六十五日有二百七十日奔波在外，過去五年走訪了三百個村落。他坦言工作很累，但當中的成功感支撐他和團隊走到今天。「成功感並非來自為世界帶來多大改變，而是眼見我們一步步接近最初訂立的目標──賦予草根人民合法的商業模式，加上合法的科技手段，讓農村得到合法的發展，從而為『山寨』正名。」

Shanzhai, translated as ‘mountain village’, is a term often used pejoratively to refer to Chinese copycat products of mobile phones and handbags. Defying the negative perception, Tat Lam called the company he set up five years ago ‘Shanzhai City’. Describing his younger self as ‘a little rebellious’, he said the name was meant to be a manifesto against capitalism: ‘Whenever Apple launched a new smart phone, a vast number of fakes would surface at the shops of Huaqiang North Road in Shenzhen. These “knock-off” mobile phones actually cater to people’s needs at the grassroots level, providing the same convenience enjoyed by the affluent. What’s wrong with that?’

The visual on Shanzhai City’s website hints at the nature of the business. Against the backdrop of a lush tea forest and a taut power cable, a female farmer is seen wearing a straw hat and holding a smart phone while looking into the distance. Simply put, Shanzhai City is in the business of empowering disadvantaged groups from remote regions with technology.

Why is it not enough to help villages find investors and organize villagers for tea tree cultivation, if the purpose is to lift them out of poverty? And why is there a need to teach them to use a smartphone?

Tat explained: ‘Persuading investors to help with poverty relief doesn’t mean you should tearfully tell them about how poor and pathetic the villagers are. Every investor—whether individual, bank or government—would first think of the potential returns and look out for figures. For instance, for every dollar invested, the villagers would work 200 hours to plant 1,000 trees, alleviating the poverty problem by 0.2%. Gathering the data requires the farmers to be tech savvy so they can enter the figures and fill out questionnaires. In this way, the investment returns can be quantified.’

Tat sees his role as a bridge between poverty and capital. ‘Though I don’t think everything is quantifiable, you must know how to speak in numbers to talk with investors.’

The Shanzhai City team spends 80% of their time crisscrossing the globe to visit villages, providing communities in mainland China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Brazil with three types of training.

First, they teach farmers practical skills like effective methods of tree planting. Second, the team attempts to raise awareness of personal data privacy, because ‘the higher their privacy awareness is, the better the data quality they could provide.’ Third, the farmers are taught what constitutes ‘value’. ‘It’s a fallacy to think whoever owns the most cash owns the most value. Dollar notes are just a stash of papers. Only with the full circulation and transaction of their various products can they generate true value and form a community of mutual assistance and benefit.’  

At the end of 2018, Shanzhai City took their third type of training to a higher level by incorporating it with blockchain technology. While the technology had yet to catch on even in the cities, it was introduced to the villages to facilitate a ‘cooperative economy’.

Blockchain is powered by encryption technology and can be seen as an advanced electronic ledger. Once recorded, a transaction becomes permanent and cannot be altered. Every record can be viewed by any participant, allowing everyone to verify the authenticity of each transaction. Therefore, blockchain can facilitate secure, reliable peer-to-peer transactions and remove the need for a middleman, such as a bank or government, to keep track of the financial deals.

Tat shows how a ‘cooperative economy’ works with an example. Person A runs a rice wine business and has announced his products are open for pre-order. To accrue wine ingredients, he pledges to buy rice from Person B, yeast from Person C and water from Person D. Interested customers can place a pre-order by transferring money to a temporary blockchain account. Upon payment, they will get a ‘wine token’. Thereafter, A begins to buy the ingredients to make rice wine with every transaction reflected on blockchain. After the wine is brewed, the customers verify the transaction details on blockchain. Then, customers transfer their tokens to the seller’s account and the wine is delivered to their doorstep.  

‘This will give rise to a pre-sale system for farm products and a grand cooperative alliance. The central authority is removed but mutual supervision remains,’ Tat concluded.

The truly effective way to elevate farmers beyond poverty is to facilitate circulation of their products and services through blockchain technology. ‘I always tell people Hainan is one of China’s most impoverished provinces. Nobody believes me as they think this is not possible given its proliferation of luxury hotels. As a matter of fact, the locals earn only RMB2,000—3,000 each month. The real money makers are the hotels with their overseas bank accounts. Thanks to the tourism drive, foreign investors have gone there to make money from foreign visitors. But outside the walls of these hotels, a slum city prevails.’

Few would guess Tat studied architecture in university. Born in Beijing, he moved to Hong Kong for his primary education and later studied at CUHK’s School of Architecture. He admitted he lacks interest in designing buildings. Instead, what fascinates him is the relationship between architecture and cities. This is why, after graduating from university, he has been seeking the best development models for cities and villages around the world.

For business, he once circled the globe twice in a month and spent 270 days in a year travelling. Over the past five years he had called upon 300 villages. Though the work is tiring, what has sustained him and his team is the sense of accomplishment they experience. ‘This feeling doesn’t come from how great the changes we have brought to the world, but from being able to see the small steps we have made that move us closer and closer to our original goal—empowering rural areas to develop with legitimate business models and technologies. Hopefully, what we are doing will give shanzhai a better reputation.’