3 In 10 Americans <i>claim</i> they Will Not Knowingly Buy Chinese-Owned Brands<p>I suspect the reality is wildly different to the survey result - after all, "made in China" is hardly a secret.
I sort of avoid food from China. Oddly, chemicals from China are ok, but I rationalize because they're in milligram quantities, so impurities are also relatively small, and they get GC/MS'd.<p>I also avoid software/security products from China and Chinese-controlled entities. To some extent, I'd like to include hardware, but that's essentially impossible. I avoid Huawei and ZTE at least, but I still buy Apple, Lenovo, etc.<p>I would probably not trust security software written by a Chinese citizen in the US who had extensive ongoing personal/family connections to China. I would use a game, and probably general purpose stuff. It makes me sad that this position is justified by the threat environment. I tend to feel the same way about most of Eastern Europe/Russia, too, although perhaps less acutely.<p>The horrible thing about all of this is that Chinese and fUSSR developers are some of the smartest/best in the world.
There are some things I will not buy if they're made in some countries, of which China is just one. There are other things that I don't care where in the world they were produced.<p>There's a definite relationship between the length of time I expect to own or use a product, the country's reputation for products of that type, and which of the two categories it falls in.
"Knowingly" seems to be the key word here: if you surveyed most Americans (or consumers elsewhere, for that matter) on how many of them know the country of origin for most brands, the results would be very hit or miss. I don't think too many people realize or remember that Samsung is Korean, nor that Nokia is Finnish. And to a concrete example of a Chinese company, I think hardly anyone knows Lenovo's origins.<p>The article even points out as much: in many cases, the Chinese brands go out of their way to do nothing that would reveal themselves to be Chinese brands. And by the time the brand is successful in a country, I'd suspect that brand's origin will matter very little.
Of course the same 3/10 Americans will not flinch when they buy Chinese manufactured iPods and other gadgets. Since, China doesn't own the brand. It's clearly not about nationalism, but about a general distaste for China. The same Americans will probably snag a BMW or a Mercedes without a second thought.<p>For those of you defending Chinese made goods, that's understandable. I don't think anyone should take a nationalist viewpoint on these issues.<p>However, you should note that political prisoners in China's Laogai are often manufacturing some of the Chinese goods you consume, which are not labeled as such, and made in violation of Chinese law. A quick google turns up this: <a href="http://laogai.org/system/files/pdf/inland_web.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://laogai.org/system/files/pdf/inland_web.pdf</a> More googling will inevitably turn up that products such as sesame street (tm) slippers, toilet paper, and other big box store staples are made this way. See also: <a href="http://laogai.org/blog/laogai-museum-window-china%E2%80%99s-human-rights-disaster" rel="nofollow">http://laogai.org/blog/laogai-museum-window-china%E2%80%99s-...</a><p>Though the term "Laogai" is dated and China stopped referring to them that way in the 90s, a documentary by Al-Jazeera English (Which got the news network EXPELLED from China) makes me think a lot different:<p><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/2011101091153782814.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/...</a><p><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195136608563.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195...</a>
Yeah, but... actually export products already have much better quality control than domestic-oriented products we ordinary chinese consume everyday, except our great leaders who have special farms around the countries producing organic "特供品"s for them) , We envy you Americans!<p>At the outskirt of my city there's a special farming zone producing high quality vegetables for Japan, I always wonder what dose that taste like, must be very delicious.<p>There're many merchants/stores here selling defective items (B品/外單） western companies rejected. It's very popular among young people, especially clothes.
Ownership doesn't bother me as much as quality control. Cheap stuff often compromises quality regardless of source. As much as possible I try not to buy food sourced from outside Australia or New Zealand as I don't trust the regulatory environments elsewhere and don't want to be eating European mystery meat or Chinese melamine. I don't really care about source so much if it is a phone or tv.
A journalist tried to go for a year without buying anything from China. It was challenging.<p><i>A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy</i><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Year-Without-Made-China-Adventure/dp/0470379200/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Year-Without-Made-China-Adventure/dp/0...</a>
Given the US's annual trade deficit with China is more than a quarter of a trillion dollars and growing every year by some $20 billion (i.e. an extra month's worth of trade balance per annum), surveys of this kind are not worth the pixels they are printed on.
One day at home we played a game where we all reached for some random thing within arms reach and I think it was 8 out of 10 had 'Made in China' on them somewhere.
I don't care what country owns the brand as long as it is dependable and well made. Chinese products have a big stigma of being cheaply made. There are also a lot of reports of products from China containing unhealthy levels of lead. It would be great if most of the products being sold are made in your home country, but until prices are matched, it would be a while until that happens.