Made-in-China Products Popular Around the World

China Daily ^ | December 26, 2007 | China Daily

[JACKRUSSELL]

Jennings Harry, a US resident living in Washington, planned to buy a cute doll as a Christmas gift for her six-year-old daughter this year. She wanted this particular kind of dolls because the doll could lie down on the floor and laugh after being tickled. However, every time she went to the store, she was disappointed to find that the toys were out of stock, the People's Daily Overseas Edition reported.

Same as the other toys sold in the United States, the tickling toys are made mainly in China and are often in short supply. China is the largest toy exporter in the world and every year when Christmas comes near, toys made in China are put on the shelves of department stores in Europe and the United States as Christmas presents for kids.

Most of these toys are transacted in Yiwu market in Zhejiang, also known as the world's largest small commodities distribution market. According to related information, Yiwu market has become the world's largest platform for the transaction of Christmas presents. The Christmas commodities in Yiwu are sold to more than 100 countries and regions, accounting for two-thirds of the total sales of Christmas goods sold in China. During the first three quarters of this year, about US$50 million worth of Christmas commodities were sold in Yiwu, the sales volume increasing by 30% compared with same period last year.

“Without Chinese toys, kids around the world would not have so much happiness,” said an EU senior official.

Recently, visiting US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez received a special gift from Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ).

“It (the gift) is very lovely, very interesting,” said Carlos Gutierrez when he received the gift from Li.

Director Li gave the gift, an electronic dog made in China, to Carlos Gutierrez in order to demonstrate that the quality of Chinese toys is reliable, said an official from GAQSIQ.

“Chinese toy manufacturing companies guarantee that they can make toys with good quality for children around the world and they hope that all children can have a merry Christmas,” Li said.

During the Christmas holidays, European consumers can buy Chinese toys with confidence because the quality of made-in-China toys is ensured, said chairman of the European Toys Industry Association.

[JACKRUSSELL]

Mickey Mouse toys made in China are seen at the World of Disney in New York, the United States, Dec. 18, 2007. China-made products are seen everywhere in the brand stores like Macy's and the World of Disney in New York. (Xinhua)

A girl from the Netherlands poses for photos with two big Mickey Mouse toys made in China, at the World of Disney in New York, the United States, Dec. 18, 2007. China-made products are seen everywhere in the brand stores like Macy"s and the World of Disney in New York. (Xinhua)

[JACKRUSSELL]

(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)

[Slapshot68]

Ubiquity because of slave wage labor isn’t the same as popularity.

[billorites]

General Tso's chicken has to be my favorite.

[Realism]

American Corporate dreams come true in China...$$$$
(clip)

Production line Mattel in China most workers in the Chang’an plant are young women, and they originate mainly from Sichuan, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Jiangxi. They number more than 6,000 (recent fieldwork suggests that at peak times the workforce swells to nearer 8,000), and work in a space of approximately 22,000 m2. They are housed in dormitories that account for a similar space, around 21,000 m2. To put this in perspective, employees work in a space approximately 150 m2, or an area around the same size as an Olympic athletics stadium.

The working week is a long and tiring one for most workers. There are two shifts, six days per week. The day shift starts at 07.00, takes a one-hour lunch break at 11.30, and finishes at 18.00. The night shift starts at 19.00, breaks for an hour at 23.30, and finishes at 06.00. The ten-hour working day consists of a basic eight hours, plus two hours overtime. Saturday is paid as overtime, and Sunday is a rest day. Workers clearly demarcate between a peak season of March to October, and a low season (comparatively) from November to February.

Plant management provides a range of health and safety systems and personal protection. Areas like the spraying section, where fumes are hazardous, are ventilated (with air conditioning) and the factory supplies the workers with gloves. There are two fire drills per year.

Depending on length of service and position, workers receive somewhere between RMB 400 to 800 per month. Workers are paid by a confusing mix of piece rates, regular pay, and overtime. It is difficult to determine the means by which the final rates are fixed. For instance, wages for workers in the sewing section take into account the total amount of material supplied, the total pieces produced, the number of workers involved, and the hours worked. Workers are thus required to fill quotas despite the evidence of clearly defined shifts. Monthly wages may be further complicated by the inclusion of ‘night shift allowances’ (RMB 1), ‘high temperature allowances’ (up to RMB 60 per month), and other allowances and bonuses. (US$1 = about Rmb8)

Workers are provided with meal tickets for three meals per day. Meals are thus free, in the sense that money is not deducted directly from workers’ wages. Employees who choose to eat in the canteen can choose from four dishes per meal. If workers choose to eat outside they receive an allowance of RMB 150 per month. This amount will not adequately cover meals purchased in small eateries outside the factory gates. In fact, it would not cover the cost of eating noon and evening meals five days per week at even the cheapest stall nearby. Nevertheless, workers do eat out for reasons associated with the quality and variety of canteen food.

Workers may also choose to live outside the factory, but most are unable to afford to do so. Instead they sleep in double bunks, eight to twelve in small dormitory rooms. Rooms are approximately 30 m2. Those who live in the dormitories and return to their quarters after 23.00 are required to report to security guards to gain entry. At all other times workers returning to their rooms must hold up their factory identity cards to security guards for identification. Outsiders wanting to visit Mattel employees can ask for them at the entrance, but are not allowed into the buildings.

However, even when workers leave the dormitory there is little for them to do in Chang’an. The only real option for them is to spend their free time taking advantage of facilities provided by the factory. These include a library, cinema, TV room, recreation centre (including a fitness room), and an open-air dance hall.

[wastedyears]

Not just toys made in China. I have three pairs of boots made from there, and I’m looking for something made here, so I could keep an American factory worker working.

[wastedyears]

Are you sure that’s chicken?

=)

[steel_resolve]

“Without Chinese toys, kids around the world would not have so much happiness,” said an EU senior official.

Spoken like a true PRC apparatchik. Now they're planting quotes in their dailys. L-A-M-E

[Zhang Fei]

Spoken like a true PRC apparatchik. Now they're planting quotes in their dailys. L-A-M-E

This is the China Daily - the house organ of the Chinese government - you can't expect objective reporting from it. At the same, it is true that Without Chinese toys, kids around the world would not have so much happiness, simply because Chinese toys are affordable in a way that identical toys made in higher labor- and land-cost countries would not be.

[WackySam]

General Tso's chicken has to be my favorite.

General Tso's is an American creation (my favorite too).

[metmom]

Used to be Dexter shoes was made in the USA but I see that they moved but I did find this link...

http://www.usstuff.com/shoes.htm

[wastedyears]

I was surprised that New Balance manufactures here. I was happy to barely see “Made in the US” on the worn tag on the tongue.

Something to remember when purchasing new sneakers.

[kidao35]

I thought it was “General Tso’s Chihuahua”.

[kellynla]

“I have three pairs of boots made from there, and I’m looking for something made here, so I could keep an American factory worker working.”

http://www.usstuff.com/shoes.htm

[steel_resolve]

Oh, I understood that, I just thought that if they were going to try and make it sound like it came from a European official (that's what they want us to think right?) then they could have let someone write it who had a more nuanced command of the english language. That sentence would not have come out of the mouth of a european.As to your point about the happiness of children, that is debateable. Yes, they are happy, much like any child is happy, but it is their parents who have to live with the consequences of chinese toys - namely product deficiencies, unfair trade practices, trade funding military buildups, low wages, etc etc etc. Not sure when a child's happiness overtook taking the common and decent path, but I think you do...

[Zhang Fei]

Not sure when a child's happiness overtook taking the common and decent path, but I think you do...

The average child is mainly interested in having toys to play with, here and in poor countries where children don't have the luxury of choice. If you want to boycott something Chinese, don't pick on Chinese workers in the toy industry - boycott products made by workers at the top of the economic totem pole - TV's, computers, etc. Boycott the auto and airline industries, which have significant parts made in China. At the same time, let me just say that I think the common and decent path is to provide export jobs for the Chinese (and every other poor country) via free and open trade so that incidents like this don't have to happen. It's not only good economics - it's good ethics.

[montag813]

Frontline spent a year following a 15-year old Chinese girl laborer in a designer jeans plant (for top $$$ U.S. and Euro designers), and it was heartbreaking to watch how they were treated, fed, worked 20-24 hours per day, housed in atrocious and overcrowded dormitories where many of them vomited and lost hair from the stress, and then NOT PAID (first “cycle” laborers always have their paychecks withheld to bind them to the factory). When other workers went home for the holidays this girl wandered the streets of the factory town alone. Simply awful. My wife and I have made an enormous effort to avoid anything made in China ever since, and it has been a lot easier than people say. Avoid the Gap and Old Navy and go to H&M is one way.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Here's a photo of part of an assembly line in a typical factory in Dongguan:

Minimum wage is now at 650 RMB/month (7.3 RMB per dollar), and is bumping to 670 RMB/month after Chinese New Year. And it's enforced by China, too - if you're caught paying under minimum wage, you are fined 3X the underpayment.

In general, most of the mid-to-large factories (those that work for US companies, typically - export-oriented factories) are clean and modern. Floors are solid, AC is present in most of the areas, good lighting, and spacious.

The reason the "space per worker" seems so low is from the photo above - they pack workers in shoulder-to-shoulder on the line. Lots of space between the lines, though...

And the article is 100% correct about young women - about 90% of the workforce in these factories is female, typically 18 to 24. After the age of 24 a large number (probably 20%) return home to get married and start a family. It's not uncommon to walk into a production room that covers a football field, and see 2,000 young women in uniforms building product.

The food is generally pretty good - when working with those factories I often forgo eating with the "executives" in their dining rooms, and eat with the workers in the cafeteria. I prefer that the workers on the line building my product associate that product with a person - me - and I take a personal investment in them. It's the line workers - not the executives - that dictate the ultimate quality you get, so they're my number one priority.

Anyway, the food is generally quite good, and portions are large. It does get boring, though, as there's typically 12-14 dishes that are rotated throughout the week. It's common for the line workers to go out to small restaurants on Saturday evening or Sunday to change things up.

Dorms are small but functional. Usually three or four bunkbeds per room, small bathroom, a table or desk, and some chairs and wardrobes. The room is around 200-300 square feet. It reminds me a lot of college dorms, and to put the size in perspective, a larger hotel room or apartment in Hong Kong runs 400 square feet as is. So while it's crowded, it's not really crowded relative to Hong Kong or what our college students live in.

Talking with line workers after work at restaurants (I find taking 6-7 out at a time, after work for dinner simply to befriend them, learn their stories, and personalize the factory with me and t0 personalize the product for them) they're generally quite thankful for the job. 60 hour weeks are common throughout China (actually common in most of the 2nd and 3rd world), but factory jobs are prized as the pay is good and stable, the environment is nice, you get uniforms to wear (overshirts/coats and hats) to mess up rather than your clothes, you get free room and board (meaning you can send back 500-600 RMB per month to your parents, enough to live on), and you have the potential to move up if you're good.

Is it like the US? Not a chance - it's China. But it's at least as good as factories I've seen in Chile, a big step up over Brazil, South Africa, India, or most of the rest of SE Asia (Singapore excepted). Drop the hours down to 35-40 per week and you're close to what you see in many European factories.

The workers are thankful for the jobs - it often means the difference between scratching out a living with the family on a farm in Western China or helping your family and saving enough to go to a trade school, getting a foot up in life. I'd say a third of all workers I talk with send 70% or more of their income home, usually to help pay to put a sibling through school or college - it's common to see an extended family pool their resources to put one or two kids through college.

ASIDE: And contrary to "common wisdom" here, it's not uncommon to see 2, 3, 4, or more kids in a single family. Abortions are not forced, your extra kids aren't taken, and forced sterilization doesn't happen. How does China "enforce" it's one-child policy? Economically. You pay graduated fines for extra children. I believe your second child is 3500 RMB, third is 7000 RMB, and fourth and more are 10,000 RMB. What if you can't pay? Then your child does not get an ID card - equivalent to our SS card. Meaning they're guaranteed to a life of poverty working illegally.

You can pay the fine any time up until the child is 18; after that, the rate would be the same as if you immigrated to China, which is 10,000 RMB per person (adult). So many parents will have an older child, and when that child reaches 18-19 and goes to the factory, they will have two or three more kids and use the income from the first kid to pay the fines for the next kids.

With the thanks comes a big feeling of responsibility. China is a culture based on "face" and honor. I have yet to meet or see a line worker who did NOT take pride in their job. Even if it was just boxing products, they take pride in what they do, and strive to do the best job they can. Showing just one line worker a better way to do an assembly step and they will learn it in a minute, and quickly that technique is taught to others. Come back the next day and everyone uses it.

When you get poor quality in China, I've found it's from two things:

1. Incomplete/inaccurate documentation about the part or the steps to assemble (not showing/teaching the factory what you want).

2. Factory owners trying to cut corners to increase their profits.

Number 1 is a lot more common than number 2. A lot of times customers send products to Chinese factories and just say "build this". If it's anything outside the normal products for the factory, then you have to either send documentation or actually show up and show them what you want done. Once you show them what you want, and confirm they do it right once, you're done - it'll get repeated ad-infinitum without issue.

Number 2 is much more problematic, but thankfully a lot more rare. To increase their own profits you'll see an unscrupulous owner switch out materials, with disasterous results. Fortunately once a factory is found/identified to do that, the owner is usually imprisoned or if just fined, he finds his factory shutting down because no one will do business with him.

Anyway, I know this is a long post, but I hope it sheds some additional light on China Inc. and the factories that provide a lot of manufacturing for the world.

[Zhang Fei]

It's common for the line workers to go out to small restaurants on Saturday evening or Sunday to change things up.

Strangely enough, McDonald's or KFC outings are considered exotic treats, although not necessarily foods they would want to consume daily. Having said that, I do prefer the Chinese menus for these franchises to their American equivalents - the Chinese chicken sandwiches are IMO excellent. The best thing is that the prices are 1/2 to 2/3 the US prices.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

I prefer overseas McDonald’s, and Chinese KFC in particular! Avoid the Chinese Pizza Hut if you can - it really falls short...:)