Did anybody happen to notice when the "Now Banned In China" banner on the upper right-hand side disappeared?
That's really odd.
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Friday, February 22, 2008
Weird
Saturday, September 15, 2007
China blocks Lee Distad's Professional Opinion!
At least, according to Great Firewall of China.org, a freedom of speech site that reports on Chinese internet liberties.
Given how often I've ranted about China's manufacturing shortcomings, it's nice to know that someone there was listening.
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Given how often I've ranted about China's manufacturing shortcomings, it's nice to know that someone there was listening.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Mattel factory boss kills self over lead paint scandal
No one who has been following the Chinese toxic product scandals should be surprised by this.
The boss of a Chinese toy manufacturing company involved in a Mattel recall after its products were found to contain excessive lead levels has hanged himself, Chinese media reported on Monday.
Zhang Shuhong, a Hong Kong businessman in his 50s and boss of the Lida Toy Company in the southern province of Guangdong, was found dead in his factory workshop on Saturday, the semi-official Southern Metropolitan Daily said.
About 1.5 million preschool toys made by Lida Toy, a Foshan-based contract manufacturer for Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price unit, were recalled across the globe by the U.S. company last week.
Zhang Shuhong, a Hong Kong businessman in his 50s and boss of the Lida Toy Company in the southern province of Guangdong, was found dead in his factory workshop on Saturday, the semi-official Southern Metropolitan Daily said.
About 1.5 million preschool toys made by Lida Toy, a Foshan-based contract manufacturer for Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price unit, were recalled across the globe by the U.S. company last week.
I'll say this about far-eastern culture: Cutting corners, looking for an angle, and hustling to make a buck may be endemic, but when caught going too far, they're all about accountability. None of this North American paradigm of denials, heavy duty teams of lawyers, and trials that take years to drag out.
On the other hand, what choice did he have? He likely didn't fancy his chances once the authorities got their hands on him.
Bear in mind, none of this is a solution. Executing businessmen, or shaming them into suicide won't make the problem go away. The West keeps badgering Chinese manufacturers for more and cheaper goods, always with an emphasis on cheaper. Without the unrelenting pressure from retailers like Wal-mart to squeeze every last dollar out of a product, all in the name of savings, would we see manufacturers resorting to shoddy and dangerous substitute ingredients?
How much are we willing to pay for safe toys, toothpaste, or medicine?
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Monday, August 13, 2007
China's mortgage market: the Other Shoe?
From Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed comes this disturbing tidbit:
Paul Kedrosky: China Has a Worse Mortgage Problem Than the U.S.
Paul Kedrosky: China Has a Worse Mortgage Problem Than the U.S.
Here's the some inverted reassurance: One Chinese academic told the South China Morning Post today's' that China's mortgage market is in even worse shape than the U.S. sub-prime market.
Yi Xianrong, a banking and finance expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chinese banks had been lax as they built up 3 trillion yuan ($396.2 billion) of mortgage lending.Defaults in the U.S. subprime mortgage market now total about $200 billion, on some $1 trillion of loans, according to Credit Suisse."The quality of housing loans are much worse than the subprime loans in the United States," Yi was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post."At least there has been a credit check system (in the United States) but in China anyone can borrow money to buy a house."
Yi Xianrong, a banking and finance expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chinese banks had been lax as they built up 3 trillion yuan ($396.2 billion) of mortgage lending.Defaults in the U.S. subprime mortgage market now total about $200 billion, on some $1 trillion of loans, according to Credit Suisse."The quality of housing loans are much worse than the subprime loans in the United States," Yi was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post."At least there has been a credit check system (in the United States) but in China anyone can borrow money to buy a house."
If the Chinese banking industry has the same kind of oversight and controls in place as their manufacturing sector, then they're completely screwed.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Chinese reporter arrested for faking food safety scandal
We all knew that there was a serious problem with quality control in China, but it's worse than we thought.
Yahoo!: China reporter held for fake cardboard-in-buns story
Yahoo!: China reporter held for fake cardboard-in-buns story
Beijing police have detained a television reporter for fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.
Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings," the China Daily said on Thursday.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.
Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings," the China Daily said on Thursday.
It's bad enough that their consumer goods are shoddy and dangerous, now they're counterfeiting their news stories too! Is nothing sacred?
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
China executes former food safety chief
China has executed the former head of the country's food safety agency for corruption and dereliction of duty. Seems a bit harsh, but given all of the problems that the country's been having on the food safety front, you have to have figured that some heads were going to roll (rimshot!!). Ok, that may have been in poor taste, though certainly killing the guy was much worse. Meanwhile, China's trade surplus hit a new record in June, confirming that, well, foreign trade is a really big deal to their economy.
I'll say this for China, they don't fool around with media circuses and lengthy trials that bore everyone to tears. They just lay blame at the feet of whomever is convenient and give them a needle. From the perspective of a totalitarian state, if there is a crime, then there must be a punishment, so to properly ensure respect for the authorities. If the person punished happens to actually be guilty of that crime, that's just a happy bonus.
Regardless, executing the former head of food safety doesn't even qualify as closing the barn door after the cow has escaped. The problems in China's manufacturing are endemic, and are entrenched in every aspect of their emerging capitalist culture. This is far from over, and it will take more than a few high profile executions to ferret it out.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Chinese product scandal now a full-blown panic
BBC: Fifth of China goods sub-standard
Nearly a fifth of goods made and sold in China have been found to be sub-standard, Beijing has revealed.
The worst problems were found in canned fruit, dried fish and fruit drinks, a food inspectors' report said.
China has pledged to take action to improve its food and drug industry after a series of safety scares aroused domestic and global concern.
The US has already banned or issued warnings over several goods from China, including seafood and toothpaste.
This same message is being screamed, with varying levels of hysteria, all over the media now.
In my inbox this morning from one of my contacts at a major japanese CE brand:
Nearly a fifth of goods made and sold in China have been found to be sub-standard, Beijing has revealed.
The worst problems were found in canned fruit, dried fish and fruit drinks, a food inspectors' report said.
China has pledged to take action to improve its food and drug industry after a series of safety scares aroused domestic and global concern.
The US has already banned or issued warnings over several goods from China, including seafood and toothpaste.
This same message is being screamed, with varying levels of hysteria, all over the media now.
In my inbox this morning from one of my contacts at a major japanese CE brand:
Lee,
That's a news flash. Think not. Anyone in the CE industry could have told the BEEB that ages ago. Think that they would have paid us for that info?
I'm thinking of making up t-shirts that say "I was hating on Chinese consumer goods before it was trendy!"
Where do you suppose I can get them made cheaply?
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Microsoft buys part of a Chinese television manufacturer
TWICE: Microsoft Seeks Stake In TV Firm
Shanghai, China — Microsoft has agreed to pay $12.3 million for a stake in Chinese television manufacturer Sichuan Changhong Electric and will form a cooperative alliance with the company, according to a Reuters’ report.
The purchase is the equivalent of about a 1 percent stake in the company, and gives Microsoft the ability to work cooperatively with Changhong Electric “to develop, make and market TVs, computers and other digital home-entertainment products,” according to the report.
Sichuan Changhong Electric, which is a government-backed company, said it would soon present the deal to its board for approval.
I wonder if there is there anybody at Microsoft who can clearly articulate what their core business is? Younger tech watchers may forget that before Google became synonymous with buying up every small company in sight, back in the 80's and early 90's it was Microsoft that was famous for rabid acquisitiveness.
I recognize the need for a software company to partner with hardware manufacturers, but do they need equity in the hardware side? Look at the agreement that has Toshiba manufacturing the Zune. Okay, that's a bad example.
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Shanghai, China — Microsoft has agreed to pay $12.3 million for a stake in Chinese television manufacturer Sichuan Changhong Electric and will form a cooperative alliance with the company, according to a Reuters’ report.
The purchase is the equivalent of about a 1 percent stake in the company, and gives Microsoft the ability to work cooperatively with Changhong Electric “to develop, make and market TVs, computers and other digital home-entertainment products,” according to the report.
Sichuan Changhong Electric, which is a government-backed company, said it would soon present the deal to its board for approval.
I wonder if there is there anybody at Microsoft who can clearly articulate what their core business is? Younger tech watchers may forget that before Google became synonymous with buying up every small company in sight, back in the 80's and early 90's it was Microsoft that was famous for rabid acquisitiveness.
I recognize the need for a software company to partner with hardware manufacturers, but do they need equity in the hardware side? Look at the agreement that has Toshiba manufacturing the Zune. Okay, that's a bad example.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
China promises to revise Food and Drug regulation, execute boatloads of shady entrepreneurs
Responding to growing international concerns about tainted food and counterfeit drugs, China said late Tuesday that it was overhauling its food and drug safety regulations and would introduce nationwide inspections.
The announcement, from the State Council, the nation’s highest administrative body, is the strongest signal yet that Beijing is moving to crack down on the sale of dangerous food and medicine and trying to calm fears that some of its exports pose health problems.
But the challenges facing China are enormous because its regulatory system is weak and enforcement is difficult.
The announcement follows a series of embarrassing episodes this year involving China’s export of tainted pet food ingredients and toothpaste. The shipments of pet food ingredients, contaminated by the chemical melamine, set off one of the largest pet food recalls in United States history.
The announcement, from the State Council, the nation’s highest administrative body, is the strongest signal yet that Beijing is moving to crack down on the sale of dangerous food and medicine and trying to calm fears that some of its exports pose health problems.
But the challenges facing China are enormous because its regulatory system is weak and enforcement is difficult.
The announcement follows a series of embarrassing episodes this year involving China’s export of tainted pet food ingredients and toothpaste. The shipments of pet food ingredients, contaminated by the chemical melamine, set off one of the largest pet food recalls in United States history.
China’s State Council understands all too well that their economic and industrial clout is entirely dependent upon the West buying all their shit, and lots of it. As many pundits have exclaimed, statistically you’re more likely to be in an automobile accident than killed by a Chinese consumer product, but the cloud, fanned by the panic-prone media casts a shadow on all of China’s exports. Anything that curtails the flow of consumer goods out of the country is a bad, bad thing, and I don’t doubt that the Chinese authorities will severely punish any firms whose short-sighted greed imperil China’s export trade.
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Monday, June 04, 2007
More blather and indignation about shoddy and sometimes criminal Chinese goods
NYT: When fakery turns fatal
“This is cut-throat market capitalism,” said Wenran Jiang, a specialist in China who teaches at the University of Alberta. “But the question has to be asked: is this uniquely Chinese or is there simply a lack of regulation in the market?”
Counterfeiting, of course, is not new to China. Since this country’s economic reforms began to take root in the 1980s, businesses have engineered countless ways to produce everything from fake car parts, cosmetics and brand name bags to counterfeit electrical cables and phony Viagra. Counterfeiting rings are broken nearly every week; nonetheless, the government seems to be waging a losing battle against the operations.
Dozens of Chinese cities have risen to prominence over the last two decades by first specializing in fake goods, like Wenzhou, which was once known for selling counterfeit Procter & Gamble products, and Kaihua in Zhejiang province, which specialized in fake Philips light bulbs.
...
“We have to bear in mind they probably don’t think about the consequences at all,” said Steve Tsang, a China specialist who teaches at Oxford University. “They’re probably only thinking of making a fast buck.”
On one hand, China has a habit of making even minor white collar crimes capital offences. Many of the perpetrators who are caught will get a death sentence with only a passing semblance of a trial.
On the other hand, China is going to need to seriously stock up on Potassium Chloride for all of the shady bucket shop brokerages that will take a fall when the Chinese equity markets collapse.
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“This is cut-throat market capitalism,” said Wenran Jiang, a specialist in China who teaches at the University of Alberta. “But the question has to be asked: is this uniquely Chinese or is there simply a lack of regulation in the market?”
Counterfeiting, of course, is not new to China. Since this country’s economic reforms began to take root in the 1980s, businesses have engineered countless ways to produce everything from fake car parts, cosmetics and brand name bags to counterfeit electrical cables and phony Viagra. Counterfeiting rings are broken nearly every week; nonetheless, the government seems to be waging a losing battle against the operations.
Dozens of Chinese cities have risen to prominence over the last two decades by first specializing in fake goods, like Wenzhou, which was once known for selling counterfeit Procter & Gamble products, and Kaihua in Zhejiang province, which specialized in fake Philips light bulbs.
...
“We have to bear in mind they probably don’t think about the consequences at all,” said Steve Tsang, a China specialist who teaches at Oxford University. “They’re probably only thinking of making a fast buck.”
On one hand, China has a habit of making even minor white collar crimes capital offences. Many of the perpetrators who are caught will get a death sentence with only a passing semblance of a trial.
On the other hand, China is going to need to seriously stock up on Potassium Chloride for all of the shady bucket shop brokerages that will take a fall when the Chinese equity markets collapse.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
British agency warns about dangerous toys
Tying in nicely to what I just wrote about China's reliance on our exports, as well as my commentary over the weekend about shoddy consumer goods comes this warning from England's consumer watchdog.
BBC.com: Chinese warning over toy safety
More than 20% of Chinese-made toys and baby clothes are below standard, the country's consumer watchdog has said.
An investigation by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine found some were even dangerous, Beijing News said.
Industrial waste, including dirty carpet fluff, paper and used instant noodle packaging, was found in some toys, the newspaper reported.
Some baby clothes contained harmful chemicals, the investigation found.
"These fluffy toys with bacteria or even viruses in them could cause children to itch if they touch them for a short time, or even cause disease over the long term," Beijing News said.
It said some toys had parts which could be broken off and swallowed.
Safety tests
China is the world's largest exporter of toys.
The US and the European Union - which have safety standards regulations - have complained about the quality of Chinese-made toys.
About half of all goods withdrawn from sale in the EU in 2006 were Chinese, according to figures from the European Commission.
China's state news agency, Xinhua, has reported that China will ban the sale of toys that fail to pass a national compulsory safety certification beginning from 1 June.
Toys that "could have a direct effect on the safety of babies and children" will have to bear the mark CCC (China Compulsory Certification) before they can be sold in China, according to a statement issued by the country's consumer watchdog.
China has been facing persistent consumer and food safety problems.
In 2004, China punished 97 government officials over the sale of fake milk powder with no nutritional value that caused the deaths of at least 13 babies in the eastern province of Anhui.
In recent months there have been complaints in the US about pet deaths from tainted wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China.
The sky may not be falling, but Chinese manufacturers need to come to grips with the notion of quality control.
An important lesson about putting all your eggrolls in one basket
Many people like to pontificate about how China is an eccnomic powerhouse that will eclipse us. However, until their billion and a half people get the hang of conspicuous consumption (and they will, I have no doubt about that), the Yin to their Yang is that they need us to buy all their crap from them. If we don't, it means trouble for them. The Wall Street Journal has a nice piece about the impact on chinese factories of Wal-mart reducing their forecasts. *Subscription required to read the whole thing.*
WSJ.com: Wal-Mart Sneezes, China Catches Cold
SHANGHAI -- Several months ago, Chinese clothing executive Shao Zhuliang got bad news from his U.S. agent: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., his biggest customer, wouldn't be placing any orders for the spring 2008 season.
Now, Mr. Shao says, he is scrambling to line up other buyers from Europe, Japan and South Korea to keep production lines running this summer at Boshan Linar Garments Co. in eastern China's Shandong province.
Wal-Mart "said they had inventory piled up over there," says Mr. Shao, who heads Boshan's sales department. "It's always hard to make money from Wal-Mart orders, but without them, we are finished."
*since the WSJ has been so nice as to link several of my blog posts through their aggregator, I thought it would be fair to stop infringing on their copyright by reprinting their articles in full, as I have been.
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