Rethinking the 'Made in China' label
Updated: 2007-07-19 14:48
I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of Sara Bongiorni's A Year Without "Made in China", though I have been anxious to write something about the book since it was released in June.
The book's title initially made me a little wary of the author's intentions. But I also knew I shouldn't make hasty judgments without reading it first.
Her commentaries, which are now readily available on the Internet, show that she is as objective as she can be.
"There's no way you can live anywhere near a normal life without buying things from China," Bongiorni keeps saying.
However, she only scratches the surface, looking at the "Made in China" labels from an American family's perspective.
As a Chinese, I've also experienced changes in my attitude toward the "Made in China" label. About 25 years ago, "Made in China" excited me and my pals, when we were still the first batch of Chinese mainland journalism students studying in the US.
Later, when I traveled overseas, I tried to avoid things that were "Made in China" when I shopped for gifts. There was no sense in me going all the way across the oceans or the Eurasian continent just to bring back keepsakes that I might spot at home.
However, this became so troublesome that I gave up looking a few years ago.
In fact, we are crystal clear in our understanding that "Made in China" means only Chinese hard labor.
"The patent, the designs, the business people are all from overseas," one netizen writes when commenting on an article about Bongiorni's book.
Except for the Chinese workers who made and attached "Made in China" labels to the products (for which they were paid pitifully little), very few Chinese actually see these products in China, other netizens pointed out.
What Chinese manufacturers and consumers should work on and advocate are truly Chinese brands and truly quality products patented, designed and created by Chinese.
Simon Anholt of the United Kingdom, compiles a national brands index to evaluate "the power and appeal of a nation's brand image" and shows "how the people around the world see the character of that brand".
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