Bitter-and-sweet feelings about Chinese goods

In the 1970’s, when I was a child living on Okinawa, Japanese and Taiwanese products were known as cheap but not good. People in those countries preferred American-made products to their own. In recent decades the world has been inundated with cheap Chinese products, many of which are plastic goods sold through dollar stores in the US. The attraction is the low price, not the quality. It has become increasingly difficult for Americans to find domestically made products, and many of us deplore that. We're happy to hear that more American companies are restoring, as Chinese labor costs have risen.                                           [More]

My dad gave me a catalogue yesterday from an Aussie company that imports Chinese products into the country. It includes all types of thinks like engines, trailers, tools and even those houses that come on a truck and you put them together. He has put a heap of them on the counter of his garage. The days of people from Australia doubting the quality of a product due to it being Chinese are long gone.                                         [More]

When I returned to my room I checked once again and realized it was a fake phone
with no motherboard, no working display and button, no ports for charger and head phone. Overall, it is a phone toy which exactly looks and weighs like an iphone worth about 5 to 10 RMB.I really should admit that, he is intelligent, because there are 3 reasons. One, he should have changed the phone within seconds, two, the original phone and fake phone both had exactly similar scratches on its screen, and three, he just had one iphone in his hand. I don't know whether to cry as I was cheated or to admire that man.                                             [More]

Well, for the most part, shopping in China for me is a lot of fun. I enjoy bargaining in the street markets, and often getting a lower price. And too, the small shops are always so colorful and attractive. When the shopkeeper gives me a price, I always say "tai gui le" which is "too expensive." Then they counter-offer, and I bring up the fact that I am only a poor schoolteacher with many children and grandchildren, and even have dragged out photos to prove it! HA! They lower the price!!! It is all part of the fun. That's why I prefer shopping in the street markets rather than in the Walmarts or Department stores.                                     [More]

What China lacks is a media that is effective and works as the fourth estate. This can be evident even as we observe CD. Such a media in English is particularly important in addition to the media in Chinese. I cannot understand the Chinese version. Looking at the English version, I think it has a long way to go. Perceptions of the quality of many products are created by media in western countries. China perhaps has a good enough one domestically, but not good enough to export the idea of the quality of its products.                                                                           [More]