Chinese Mechanical Locks - Insight into a Hidden World of Locks

Presented at The Eleventh HOPE (2016), July 22, 2016, 3 p.m. (60 minutes).

Chinese-made locks have traditionally had poor reputations. The Chinese-made locks that we usually encounter in our day-to-day lives always seem to be low quality, cheap, and insecure at best, so it may seem that this is all that the Chinese make. However, there is a whole other world of lock designs that are sold exclusively to the Chinese domestic market. In this presentation, a variety of different Chinese lock designs will be discussed, from the prominent and innovative, such as the Yuema free spinning cylinder line of locks to the relatively obscure, such as the Chinese take on the Corbin Emhart rotating pin design. This talk will cover the defeats of these locks, both theoretical and practical, in addition to the steps Chinese lock companies have taken to address these vulnerabilities, as well as the reasons behind the constant innovation.


Presenters:

  • Lucas Zhao / UrbanHawk as Lucas Zhao (UrbanHawk)
    Lucas Zhao (UrbanHawk) is a 16-year-old lockpicker with a special interest in Chinese locks and an avid collector, with a collection mostly consisting of unusual Chinese-made locks. He has been dissecting and researching locks since he was ten years of age, and has a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all things related to locks. Lucas loves to talk endlessly about his lock interests to anyone who will listen, much to the annoyance of his friends. He also knows too much about other random topics such as elevators and the Metro-North Railroad, which his friends now avoid in order to keep him from talking endlessly about those as well.

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