Aliexpress Marketplace practices, be for warned.

A good number of alibaba cables will probably be resold used as originals at some point in their lives, casting doubt on the used cable market in general which, perversely, benefits manufacturers of expensive originals.

The consumers of high end cables are not being taken advantage of. There is no one making anyone buy them. From my experience with them, while there are different flavors of sound, within a given sound type more money buys you better sound. If it is worth it to you is a decision you must make.

There are plenty of budget cables on the market, so manufacturing or purchasing fakes to me is unethical.

The penalty for counterfeiting was a little more harsh in Colonial times. 

Blue Jean Cables. 👍

Each country develops along its own path.  China is no different.  China experienced several centuries of exploitation by the west and reacted as one would expect.

China does not uphold western concepts of Contract Law.  Enforcing a contact with a mainland chinese entity is an exercise in trying to hit a moving target.

China does not support the western concept of property ownership- actual real estate, manufacturing, whole/sale retail goods, or intellectual property etc. China is run by a dictatorship that owns all property- "ownership" in the western sense is essentially tacit permission to use until the Govt decides otherwise.  Many companies reported initial success in sourcing from mainland Chinese companies, then discovered their products were undercut in the market by counterfeit products either going out the "back door" or made by a brand new plant on the other side of town- but making the exact same product to be sold at much lower cost.  Or in the most extreme situations- Western owners of successful chinese companies would suddenly discover they were required to add local party leaders to their board- with substantial compensation, or their workforce would disappear. 

China does not recognize "international" trademarks and patents.   Several years ago Apple was forced to purchase the rights to their name and trademark for use in China. It seems that a small chinese company had registered the Apple name, logo etc.  Chinese courts supported the chinese company.  It is quite possible that the brand names for Nordost, Kimber, Cardas in China may be owned by a chinese entity rather than the global brand.  So are the chinese products fake ?  It becomes a semantic argument.

A western buyer of goods made in and sold from mainland China will often receive what the seller thinks will be accepted rather than what was actually ordered and expected by the buyer.

Caveat Emptor