Guxiaojiu was started last year by an ex-Xiaomi executive, boasting staff with tech backgrounds and an online sales model -- similar to Xiaomi’s early years. Guxiaojiu’s products are only available on Xiaomi’s online shopping site, which led many to believe it’s part of the Xiaomi ecosystem -- a network of hardware companies Xiaomi has stakes in. But Xiaomi has denied to Chinese media that it has any financial ties with Guxiaojiu.

Weibo users were mostly dismissive about the idea. One says, “Who would want to make a counterfeit version of a brand nobody knows? This is just a gimmick.”