The Misconception about "Made in China"

Having left China 5 years ago after I graduated from medical school, I still find that I carry a few of those Chinese "sensibilities"with me. You can't really expect to live somewhere for 6 long years and not be changed by it. Now that I'm back home, I've noted a great proliferation of Chinese people in Kenya, considerably outnumbering most other non-black foreigners. In fact, I've seen situations arise where whole grocery store signs and even billboard posters are written in Chinese characters (hanzi). This latter item is a cause of great concern, especially since it signifies that the Kenyan government has, as usual, retreated to its laissez-faire approach to dealing with important issues. But, I digress, that's a matter for another time and place.

I was in the city shopping for some pants recently. Being the "old-school" fellow that I am, a  fervent fan of Dockers, and someone who despises the ultra-tight chinos that seem to be all the rage these days, I was basically shopping for Dockers, or whichever good khakis I could find. I remember the experience, particularly because of this one seller at a shop in Moi Avenue. From our interaction, I learnt that,

1. Dockers are no longer the in-thing, and thus they no longer stock them
2. His khaki pants were of such high quality that he was willing to charge the premium price of sh. 6000 (roughly $60) for the pants.
3. These were not Chinese-quality pants

Lord knows I didn't end up buying the pants at that store. Sure, I was downtown, but the ambiance of the store and the pants themselves didn't exactly seem to reflect sh. 6000 worth of value. If I was being generous, I wouldn't have parted with more than half that amount. However, the lasting impression from that conversation was that "Chinese-quality" jibe, which, in light of all my experiences, is certainly undeserved.


China for me was a hodgepodge of experiences, especially in the beginning. I remember going to the country with the mindset that things would be cheap and affordable; the agent who'd helped me get into school had assured me that I could really just rock up and pretty much just buy everything I needed when I got to my destination in China. Of course, someone had forgotten to inform him that Wenzhou is a very peculiar city; infinitesimally small, by Chinese standards, but renowned throughout China for its entrepreneurs. One other thing about Wenzhou was that things were quite expensive. I remember my friend once discussing how she went out shopping with her mother in the city, and they were shocked at how expensive things were. So much for the notion of "Made in China being cheap!"


Another fascinating aspect of shopping in Wenzhou was that you were expected to bargain for prices. Personally, I like a concrete price; don't want to feel like I need to have this relationship with a seller where I'd have to haggle over prices. If I haggle too much, then I feel like I've cheated someone out of their money; if I don't bargain enough, I end up "getting taken to the cleaners," and having my wallet suffer. Before becoming conversant in (Mandarin) Chinese, this would play out with the aid of a mere calculator; then later the phrases "Tai gui le!" (extremely expensive),  "Pianyi yi dian(r)" (make it cheaper) and "Da zhe" (Bargain) would be used often; and beyond even that, you'd end up having full fleshed out conversations with your seller.


Despite China being the world's factory (an image that they're currently working to change), it was also an issue getting things that you wanted. As usual, people stock things according to market demand. Therefore, getting the styles, sizes, colours that you wanted really depended on the sensibilities of the general populace. So, in the beginning, most of Wenzhou's fashion seemed like this tight-fitting K-Pop and Chinese celeb attire that I had never (and never will) come to embrace. Of course, after coming to understand the language, and thanks to word-of-mouth from fellow foreigners, I learnt where I could get different stuff within the city and without (Yiwu), and even where I could get things specially tailored. Moral of the story,

"If you know where to look for it, you will find it!" 

Some of my friends were certainly adventurous and had business ventures at home that they stocked from China. Once you understood the language, you weren't merely confined to the middlemen in cities like Guangzhou (an African favourite); you could actually travel to far-flung areas where you could personally liaise with factory owners and get the goods prepared as per your exact specifications. (Imagine my surprise at being able to have Kitenges - an East/West/Central African staple of fabric - tailor made at a Chinese factory in the middle of nowhere). In addition, China is all about volume. Sure, you only wanted a few hundred 'whatevers' for your store, and they'd give it to you at a good price; however, if you upped the volume to 500 or even a couple of 1000s, there'd be a drastic drop in the item price. Take home message,

"Don't be afraid to buy in bulk...a massive amount of bulk!"

One last fascinating aspect of China is that there is varying quality of goods. Initially, my friends and I came up with a scale for the range of qualities that existed: (in ascending order)

1. For African countries and other less-developed areas
2. For the domestic Chinese market
3. For export to the United States and prominent European countries

So, there were chances that you could end up with say US-export bound goods, but you would pay for them at a premium. Reflecting back on my early shopping experiences at Wenzhou, I remember this one time when I walked into a Li-Ning store looking to buy some sneakers. A friend of mine (Dr. Michael) had intimated that Li-Ning was probably one of the best Chinese brands, and I decided to check it out for myself. I remember asking if the price could be lowered on a certain pair of sneakers, and the seller's response was simply,

"No, that won't be possible. However, you can walk on over to those stores over there and you'll be able to get shoes at the price that you want."

Finally, a concrete price! Someone so confident about the quality of his goods that he'd only sell them at one price! It was like a breath of fresh air.

Thus I had to rework some of the notions I had developed while living in China. There were in fact even premium products made specifically for the Chinese population, and Li-Ning became one of my go-to brands. Dealing with sellers clarified things further. For instance, you could be trying to buy a specific wrench/spanner; you'd find that the seller has 3 similar looking items, but differently priced; upon inquiry, he'd be very honest and let you know that the spanners are of varying quality: the 1st would probably only be good for a year; the 2nd he could guarantee for roughly 3 years, and on the 3rd he could give you a lifelong warranty.

Therefore, the weakest link is the actual buyer. People decide to buy the cheapest item on the shelf, and then charge a premium for it as if it was made of gold. Imagine my shock on coming back to Kenya, and finding goods - purchased in Guangzhou at one-third the price they would go for in Wenzhou - being sold at 3 times the going Wenzhou-rate in Kenya! People are busy making excessive profit margins, but they're undercutting the quality at every turn.

I've already stated how disappointed I am that Chinese would pull off this kind of tactic with regards to quality, but as long as there's a sucker around to buy this kind of stuff, who are they "to look a gift horse in the mouth?" The responsibility really lies with our sellers/distributors and government regulatory bodies to make sure that only the best things are being brought into the country; they need to be looking out for us all, and getting us the best in terms of deals and quality.

China has another task altogether. It's understandable that we all have to start from somewhere. People nowadays might not remember the time when "Made in Japan" was considered inferior in all aspects  (Akio Morita's book about SONY - aptly titled "Made in Japan" -  was an eye-opener). I also remember the time when Korea's LG used to be known as "Goldstar" (and I wasn't rocking with anything Goldstar-affiliated). Everyone has to go through the phase where they copy what's hip-and-new, but then they eventually have to innovate and progress; make their own mark in the world. Eventually, China will get there, but it would help if they shelved these half-baked poorly made Chinese products, and sought to make "Made in China" a singularly premium product. I think the world would be better off for it.

All in all, there's a lot going on in all the variability concerning "Made in China" products; but in my honest opinion, the biggest problem is the local/domestic sellers who are being underhanded. Until they understand that "Cheap is really Expensive", not much is going to improve. 

God Bless.