What are The Chinese reproductions

The story of the three Chinese girls is silly and seemingly insignificant. Somehow the three sisters ended up living in South Africa and with their mother, made fake Han dynasty pottery geese to sell to gullible collectors. However, these fake Han geese show up over and over in a hilarious way. The author uses many things that are nice on the outside but fake, empty, or hollow on the inside to to compare to some of the characters- the Engineer and the Blomgrens, for example. This idea also contrasts a person with little value in society- like Nombeko- that is actually a resourceful, intelligent, special person.