What ‘Made in China’ Really Means
Made in China. You see it all the time – stamped onto the bottom of your son’s latest holiday toy, stitched into the tag of your gym shorts, even printed on the package of your dog’s pet chow. But did you ever stop to think about what Made in China really means? Where do we draw the line between convenience and dependence?
Quick China Facts…
• In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), eliminating or reducing tariffs and trade-barriers on goods, services, and foreign investments.
• In 2006 China had a record trade surplus of $177 billion, backed by a 27% surge in exports.
• In July 2007, China overtook Germany for the world’s third largest GDP with $2.9 trillion (US – $13.2 trillion, Japan – $4.4 trillion), up from 7th in 1999.
• Earlier this month, Mattel recalled 18 million Chinese-made toys worldwide containing lead paint or tiny magnets.
While you let those numbers digest, check out these two cartograms exploring global toy exports and imports to get a better of understanding of China’s manufacturing influence/dominance. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good cartogram is worth a thousand facts, or so I like to think.
Toy Exports – Who Makes ‘Em
Toy Imports – Who Buys ‘Em
A Few Thoughts…
• The responsibility of safer toys falls on both parties – better designs from the toy-company and better (safe) materials from the manufacturer.
• I’m assuming the children in countries that are shrunk down (all of Africa and South America) still have toys, but they are handmade domestic goods rather than plastic from China.
• After staring at the oversized blobs that are the US and much of the EU, it’s going to be difficult for me to rationalize with a sulky child who needs another Barbie. That doesn’t mean of course that I wouldn’t give into those pouty eyes….
Could you go a day without Made In China? How about a year? Living in the Bay Area, I hear people talk with pride about how they’re doing this or that to reduce their ‘carbon footprint’; ever wonder about your ‘China footprint’?
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8 Responses
Thanks for your interesting post about China, specifically your comments and statistics regarding Chinese toy manufacturing.
Historically, China has been a manufacturing powerhouse. This was true in antiquity (from 3rd century BC to approximately 3rd century AD), and again from roughly the 9th century into the 14 the century. During these eras, Chinese products found their way to all the corners of the known world. Thus, what’s happening now with China’s current manufacturing capability can be viewed as a “return to form,” rather than something that’s without precedent.
I think it’s been some decades now that many western companies (and their customers) made the decision to have their products made in China. I think the typical consumer would rather pay less rather than significantly more for a comparable product. Simple economics.
Indeed, even if you wanted to manufacture a plastic product in the United States, you’d find that there’s only 40% of the molders here that there were 25 years. And you’d have to pay a lot more to have it done.
By the way, I designed a product (the Ball of Whacks: info at http://creativewhack.com) that is manufactured in China. I am quite pleased with my manufacturer.
The Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial (August 13, 2007) stating that it is unfair to single out China for shoddy manufacturing. Poorly quality products can come from all countries. The key thing, the Journal points out, for better products is to have better designed products in the first place.
Could I go a day without “Made In China”? I personally wouldn’t want to. Chinese products have enriched not only my life, but also many, many other lives as well.
Super interesting. I think just last year China surpassed Italy in GDP, and this year Germany. The thing that nominal GDP doesn’t seem to take into account is purchasing price parity. For example, China’s GDP is $2.9 billion compared to the US’s GDP of $13.2 billion. But this is taking China’s GDP and expressing it in dollars at the current exchange rate of $1 USD = 7.5 RMB. But according to the Economist’s Big Mac Index that expresses exchange rates in hamburgers, the implied exchange rate should be $1 USD = 3.23 RMB. So if we express China’s GDP using the Big Mac hamburger index, that means that China’s GDP is actually 2.3x higher or $6.8 billion! And if you grow China’s GDP by 8% per year and the US’s GDP by 2% per year, you end up with 2 economies of equivalent size in the year 2019! I’m sure the economists reading this blog (lol) will argue that this is not valid, that economies are not 100% driven by domestic spend, that exchange rates are not purely driven by PPP, not all products are non-tradeable Big Macs and haircuts, but actually I don’t really understand these arguments. I’m with Henry Paulson; that the RMB must appreciate to change these global trade imbalances. But it will be a painful thing when the American consumer needs to cut back on the toys! So I’m putting my money where my mouth is and buying RMB so I can keep buying toys and Big Macs in the future! Anyway, interesting World is Flat world we live in these days!
It’s the profit motive coming back to haunt the consumer, I think. If we employed our own citizens at a decent wage to make toys, we couldn’t afford them! My daughter and I love origami, which originated in China before it moved along to Japan, and costs so little! Kind of ironic. We say phew! as we follow the poisonous toy stories.
@Sandy: It’s unfortunate that a few unscrupulous sub-contractors have (to use your term) “poisoned” the air for many Chinese products. The vast majority of Chinese manufacturers produce good (some world class) products at an affordable price.
“It’s the profit motive coming back to haunt the consumer.” I don’t quite get this statement. If companies don’t want to make a profit, why are they in business?
I agree with you about the mentally stimulating aspects of origami. Check out this post on the origami art of Robert Lang: http://blog.creativethink.com/2007/03/the_origami_art.html
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