Thursday, August 2, 2007

Made In China


In those days, China-made goods were usually not of good quality. It's not that I am prejudiced but more often than not, such products ranging from toys to kitchenware -- most anything and everything -- were really of inferior, sometimes sub-standard quality.
We would even be worried about foodstuff that came out of China, wondering what they contained because China was not known to be strict in enforcing laws covering food production.
But, they were cheap.
After the fall of communism, China had to come to grips with, confront and then embrace capitalism, laissez faire and the open market.
The journey was slow, a little heady, but steady. Everyone braced themselves for the new emerging China.
Now, China is the new economic power. Everyone wants to have a go at dancing with her.
Everyone wants to have a piece of China.
She seemed to be handling all this popularity pretty well, convincing the once-powerful west that she's made the cut.
Perhaps, too weary to sustain the "high', she is showing signs of reverting to her bad old ways.
Could it be the West is bad-pressing her, fearing her growing strength, and fighting back by playing a little dirty?
Still, can't deny that China offers gargantuan possibilities.
And China-made goods are still cheap.
But today, things are not going too smoothly for China. Products from China are not only poorly made but are found to be dangerous.
And there is proof of China's recklessness in quality control. But, was there ever in the first place?

Check out this story about Fisher-Price having to recall some one million toys because their paint contains excessive amount of lead.
These toys were made by Fisher-Price by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August.

Read the story here.

5 comments:

flaminglambo said...

Sad fact isn't it?

Plus, all these stories about fake ginseng, baby formulas, vitamins, herbs, etc. that killed so many people, including infants, just shows people how the country values life.

the witch's broo said...

flaminglambo,

i know. it sickens me to know that all these things were being done because fo greed. nothing else but greed. human life for these greedy people, is cheap.

Anonymous said...

hey witch,
i remember i would try to avoid buying China-made goods if I could help it..
but weren't the japanese discriminated worldwide too?
the japanese revolutionised their made-in-japan products and wham, they were up there, before we knew what hit us.
these days, i do uy china-made stuff. but discriminately.

cheers witch.
how was your weekend?

eva's haven said...

witch,
that's a place to get rich!

the witch's broo said...

gypsy,
yeah. there was no turning back for the japanese.
i dunno whether we could say the same for China.
It's not just the perception that we have of china but the fact that there is hard proof of their products and services.
my weekend? mmmmm......lonely.

eva: yes. imagine seling lingerie to the chinese. but, ah, they make lingerie by the millions....
maybe we should try selling durian chocs....i we can get pass the local government, i hear you don't bureaucracy until you do business in china.