Another crackdown in China, but I doubt this one will last very long (via Curzon at Coming Anarchy):

From a friend currently on assignment in Shanghai:
I think Shanghai/China may be in the midst of one of its periodic IP [Intellectual Property]crackdowns. All the DVD stores shut down yesterday and I walked past the fake goods market to see the police impounding louis vuitton bags. A fake watch store told me they couldn’t sell me anything today and come back tomorrow. On top of that, a mate of mine told me all the massage parlors on some street near him had been shut down.
Seems like that’s half of the Chinese economy shut down. All they need to do now is revalues the Yuan and strike at Japanese run factories and that’s them properly f**ked.

UPDATE (21:03): So that explains it (From Danwei):

The Shanghai International Film Festival starts on June 11. Ahead of the festival, the city is organizing a crack down on pirate DVDs.
An Associated Press report about the crackdown gives a crystal clear picture of the real reasons behind China’s occasional anti-piracy actions:

"To crack down against the pirate DVDs is our job and duty," Lan Yiming, deputy head of Shanghai’s culture inspection bureau, said in a telephone interview.
"We want to create a good cultural environment for the international film festival and give guests from home and abroad a good impression," he said…