SUN WUKONG China choking on its own tainted goods
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - Despite the fact that some of the criticisms may be exaggerated,
the foreign backlash over the quality and safety of China's exports have forced
Chinese authorities to face the problem and further vow to strengthen national
production standards.
The furor has also drawn public attention to the quality of China's goods for
its domestic market, a factor that has put more
pressure on authorities to clean up their act and safeguard the "Made in China"
reputation at home and abroad. And compared to exported goods, the overall
quality and safety of domestic products is vastly inferior due to a serious
lack of supervision.
China has generally taken more care with the quality of its exports, if for no
other reason than to "save face" for the country in the world's eyes. Under Mao
Zedong, China ensured that the goods it exported or donated to allied
countries, were the best quality. In fact, during the brief, bloody
Sino-Vietnamese border war of 1979, many People's Liberation Army soldiers were
reportedly very upset after they found that Chinese-made weapons used by the
Vietnamese against them were better than their own.
This may partially explain why Chinese product safety officials have been so
sensitive about foreign criticisms. Though they should at least partially
shoulder the blame and move on with an eye towards better oversight rather than
trotting out excuses that they they were overworked and understaffed due to the
rapid fire growth of China's export market.
One of the results of lack of supervision is the rampant amount of pirated
goods on the Chinese market today, a situation for which the Chinese consumers
themselves should also be blamed given their thirst for flouting western brand
names, whether it's a fake pair of Nikes, a phony Dunhill shirt, a bogus Gucci
purse, dodgy Oscar de la Renta shades or simply watching a bootlegged Hollywood
release on DVD. The prices are cheaper than the real deal and the consumers
rarely if ever concern themselves with trademark and licensing issues.
But this mentality also trickles down to the level where Chinese consumers are
now literally eating the tainted fruits and ingesting the fake medicines of
their own slipshod labors. No greater example can be found than during the
traditional Chinese "golden week" holidays (Lunar Chinese New Year), May 1
Labor Day, and October 1 National Day - when fake foods and liquor abound on
the Chinese market.
According to Chutian Metropolis Daily, authorities in Enshi city in the central
province of Hebei launched a check on the local liquor and wine markets on the
eve of the National Day holiday. They found half of the of brand-name Chinese
baijiu (white liquor) such as Maotai or Wuliangye on sale in the city were
fakes. More astonishing, 90% of the so-called imported brandy, whisky and wine
served in entertainment venues and restaurants surveyed were counterfeit. And
in Dongguan, a boom city in the southern province of Guangdong, authorities
recently smashed a backyard beer brewry that was producing fake brand-name
hooch using chemicals harmful to humans.
Some Chinese commentators have pointed out also that the problem isn't just
greedy consumers and quick-buck artists - it's also often rooted in the
collusion between government officials and entrepreneurs. "The problem is, many
restaurants and entertainment places are run or shared by local law enforcement
officials," one wrote.
An owner of a transportation company in Shenzhen said: "Nearly everything
can be faked as long as it is sellable. Once a product becomes popular, soon
you will find the fake one on the market."
In the wake of foreign criticisms of quality and safety problems of Chinese
made good, Shenzhen authorities recently launched a campaign to crack down on
the production and sale of fake goods, vowing to rid the city's reputation as
"paradise of fake products". It follows a nearly identical locally heavily
publicized "smash fake goods" campaign nearly a year ago, and others like it in
the years before.
The Shenzhen transportation company owner said he was aware of the pattern and
that the campaigns do little or nothing to quell the country's counterfeiting
woes. "This is not a Shenzhen problem but a problem across the whole country.
Hence Shenzhen's efforts alone can never solve it," he said.
The foreign criticisms have provided a good opportunity for the Chinese
government to face up to its quality control problems and with its rocketing
revenue, Beijing has more than enough money to spend on recruiting and training
additional personnel throughout the nation to ensure quality goods both for
domestic and international consumption. Needless to say, Beijing also must
redouble and sustain its current crack down on official corruption.
And the Chinese government may also need to consider opening up media and
public disclosures on the issue. Exposure by the media often proves to be more
of a deterrent than government edicts, but the chances of an unfettered press
in mainland China are remote to say the least. And incidents such as phony
television news story about "cardboard buns" laced with chemicals and pork
flavoring which originally aired on Chinese state-television in July and then
was spread by western media only make the situation worse. The story was a
hoax, but its exposure as a phony news story was eclipsed by the original
TV-spun urban myth about "cardboard buns".
Ultimately it is Chinese acceptance of a counterfeiting culture that enables
the practice to flourish and changing it could take generations. As a Chinese
proverb says: "It takes more than one cold day for a river to freeze three feet
deep." Only when the majority of Chinese consumers become willing to freeze out
fake products will the malpractice be wiped from the Middle Kingdom.
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